PRIME MINISTER

Abortion

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Prime Minister whether it is the Government's policy that decisions in Parliament relating to abortion should be subject to a free vote; and if he will instruct that the Department for International Development's practice paper, Safe and unsafe abortion, published in July 2011, should not be regarded as an expression of the Government's policy until its contents have been approved by the House in a free vote.

David Cameron: Issues on matters of conscience have, by tradition, been the subject of a free vote in the House of Commons. Issues relating to abortion in other countries are determined by respective Governments.

CABINET OFFICE

Apprentices

Robert Halfon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many apprentices have been employed by contractors and sub-contractors to his Department in each year since 2010-11; and what proportion such apprentices make up of the workforce of those contractors and sub-contractors.

Francis Maude: The information requested is not held centrally.

Average Earnings

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what assessment he has made of the median gross weekly wage of employees in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the median gross weekly wage of employees in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years (203599).
	The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. Figures relate to employee jobs, which are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed.
	The following tables show estimates of median gross weekly earnings for all and full-time employees in Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands and England from April 2009 to April 2013, the latest period for which results are available.
	
		
			 Median gross weekly earnings for all and full-time employees1, April 2009 to 2013 
			 £ 
			  All employees 
			 Year (April) Coventry North East constituency Coventry West Midlands England 
			 2009 *363.9 402.8 373.6 402.5 
			 2010 *410.1 424.5 376.7 409.7 
			 20112,4 *396.8 432.5 375.6 410.2 
			 20113,4 *393.0 425.9 370.0 405.1 
			 2012 *437.1 438.4 378.8 412.4 
			 2013 *444.6 461.4 391.7 421.6 
		
	
	
		
			 £ 
			  Full-time employees 
			 Year (April) Coventry North East constituency Coventry West Midlands England 
			 2009 *451.9 487.1 456.2 495.0 
			 2010 *488.5 502.3 467.4 504.5 
			 20112,4 *473.8 510.7 470.6 507.2 
			 20113,4 *467.6 509.7 464.4 504.0 
			 2012 *499.0 520.2 469.2 512.6 
			 2013 *527.7 554.5 484.6 520.5 
			 1 Employee jobs are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed. Figures relate to employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay period was not affected by absence. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Consequently, individuals with more than one job may appear in the sample more than once. 2 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2000. 3 2011 results based on Standard Occupational Classification 2010. 4 Estimates for years prior to 2011 are based on SOC 2000 and estimates for years after 2011 are based on SOC 2010. Figures are only considered to be directly comparable if they are based on the same SOC. Guide to quality: The coefficient of variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure; the smaller the CV, the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV. For example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the true population average to be within the range 180 to 220. All figures in the above tables have a CV of less than or equal to 5% except where indicated, as defined in the following key. Key: * CV > 5% and <= 10% Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics

Civil Servants: Recruitment

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many places are available annually on the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme;
	(2)  which Government Departments do not participate in the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship Scheme;
	(3)  how many new graduate Fast Streamers were allocated places in each department in each year since 2010.

Francis Maude: The pilot cohort of 100 Fast Track Apprentices began their apprenticeships in September 2013. Eight Government Departments across England participated in the pilot cohort:
	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	Cabinet Office
	Crown Prosecution Service
	Department for Education
	Department for Work and Pensions
	HM Revenue and Customs
	Ministry of Defence
	Ministry of Justice
	Cohort 2 will begin in September 2014 and will place 200 apprentices across Departments and Agencies across England, including:
	Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
	Cabinet Office
	Crown Prosecution Service
	Department for Education
	Department for Work and Pensions
	HM Revenue and Customs
	Ministry of Defence
	Ministry of Justice
	Civil Service Employee Policy
	Civil Service Resourcing
	Civil Service Learning
	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
	Department for Transport
	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
	Department for Communities and Local Government
	UK Trade & Investment, part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Treasury Solicitor's Department
	Insolvency Service
	Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary
	Crown Commercial Service
	The Government plans to continue to grow this programme and expand it to other Departments.
	Annual Reports published by the Cabinet Office indicating the number of candidates recommended for appointment to the Graduate (now Generalist) Fast Stream are available at
	www.gov.uk
	A table showing the numbers recommended for appointment to the scheme for the period 2010-2012, distributed by Department, has been placed in the Library of the House. Data for 2013 is not yet available.

Civil Servants: Vetting

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the difference is between standard security checks and developed vetting carried out in respect of officials employed in the civil service; how many officials in No. 10 Downing street have been subject to (a) standard security clearance and (b) developed vetting; and what limitations are placed on officials in No. 10 Downing street who have not undergone developed vetting.

Francis Maude: Details of the national security vetting policy and process are set out in the document HMG Personnel Security Controls, available from the House of Commons Library or online at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmg-personnel-security-controls
	It has been the policy of successive governments not to comment on staff subject to national security vetting.

Employment

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many people have been employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months;
	(2)  what the unemployment rate in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK was in each of the last 12 months;
	(3)  how many women have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months;
	(4)  how many men have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months;
	(5)  how many people have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months;
	(6)  how many men have been employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months;
	(7)  how many women have been employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary questions asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people have been employed in (a) Jarrow Constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months (203560); what the unemployment rate in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK was in each of the last 12 months (203589); how many women have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months (203590); how many men have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months. (203591); how many people have been unemployed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months (203592); how many men have been employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months (203593); how many women have been employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the UK in each of the last 12 months. (203594)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles labour market statistics for areas smaller than the UK from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions which is not available on a monthly basis.
	Table 1 shows the number of men, women and people who were unemployed according to survey responses from the APS for the 12 month period April 2013 to March 2014, the latest available period, and resident in the requested geographies, along with the unemployment rate for people. The estimate for people in South Tyneside is calculated from a statistical model covering the same period.
	Table 2 shows the number of men, women and people who were employed according to survey responses from the APS for the 12 month period April 2013 to March 2014, the latest available period, and resident in the requested geographies.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a certain level of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates of the levels is included on the tables.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number1 of unemployed people and unemployment rate, April 2013 to March 2014 
			  Level (Thousand) Percentage 
			  Men Women Total Rate 
			 Jarrow ****n/a ****n/a ***5 10.8 
			 South Tyneside2 ***5 ***4 ***9 11.2 
			 North East **71 **56 *127 9.8 
			 UK *1,323 *982 *2,305 7.2 
			 1 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. 2 Estimates of the unemployment level and rate for people in local authorities is calculated from a statistical model derived from the Annual Population Survey (APS) and the Claimant Count. This is different to the estimates for the individual sexes which are from the APS. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value, the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 ≤ CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 ≤ CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 ≤ CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV ≥ 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Source: Annual Population Survey/Model-based estimates of unemployment. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number1 of employed people, April 2013 to March 2014 
			 Thousand 
			  Men Women Total 
			 Jarrow **21 **20 **41 
			 South Tyneside **38 **33 *71 
			 North East *621 *550 *1,171 
			 UK *16,015 *13,879 *29,894 
			 1 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality below. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value, the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 ≤ CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 ≤ CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 ≤ CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV ≥ 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Source: Annual Population Survey.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of ministerial replies sent to hon. Members in electronic form only;
	(2)  if he will estimate the total number of ministerial replies from his Department to hon. Members in a parliamentary session; and what proportion of such replies are sent (a) by letter and (b) by email.

Francis Maude: I refer my hon. Friend to my written statement of 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 17WS. Information on the number of responses sent via e-mail or letter is not held.
	The Cabinet Office encourages all Departments to communicate with hon. Members via electronic mail where appropriate. Guidance on handling correspondence from Members of Parliament, Peers, MEPs and Members of devolved Administrations will be updated in due course.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61196/guide-handling-gov-correspondence.pdf

Older Workers

Stephen Timms: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how many people over 50-years-old are employed in each region and constituent part of the UK; and what proportion of people aged over 50-years-old living in the region and constituent part do they represent in each such case;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, columns 679W-80W, on unemployment: older workers, how many and what proportion of people over 50 had been out of work for over a year in each region and constituent part of the UK in each year since 1994.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people over 50 years old are employed in each region and constituent part of the UK; and what proportion of people aged over 50 years old living in the region and constituent part do they represent in each such case (203349) and; pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, columns 679W-80W, on unemployment: older workers, how many and what proportion of people over 50 had been out of work for over a year in each region and constituent part of the UK in each year since 1994. (203496)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles estimates of the number people in employment by age and unemployment by age and duration for areas smaller than the UK from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.
	Table 1 shows the number and percentage of people aged 50 and over who were in employment according to survey responses from the APS for the 12 month period April 2013 to March 2014, the latest available period.
	Table 2 shows the number and percentage of people aged 50 and over who were unemployed for 12 months or more according to survey responses from the APS for the 12 month period April 2013 to March 2014, the latest available period, and for the 12 month periods ending December from 2004 to 2013. UK estimates have also been provided from the APS for comparison purposes as these estimates are not directly comparable to the UK estimates provided in the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, columns 679W-80W, on unemployment: older workers, from the Labour Force Survey. Estimates prior to these periods are not available.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a certain level of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates of the levels is included on the tables.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	A copy of the tables will be placed in the Library of the House.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number and percentage of people aged 50 and over in employment, April 2013 to March 2014 
			  Number1 (Thousand) Percentage 
			 North East *341 35.0 
			 North West *905 36.6 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber *722 38.5 
			 East Midlands *646 39.2 
			 West Midlands *759 38.6 
			 East of England *926 42.4 
			 London *885 41.8 
			 South East *1,348 42.9 
			 South West *843 40.1 
			 Wales *428 36.7 
			 Scotland *760 39.0 
			 Northern Ireland *221 37.7 
			 UK *8,784 39.6 
			 1 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated as an indication of the quality of the estimates. See Guide to Quality as follows. Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5% we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) ( %) Statistical Robustness * 0 ≤ CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 ≤ CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 ≤ CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV ≥ 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes Source: Annual Population Survey

Part-time Employment: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what changes there have been in the number of (a) female and (b) male part time workers in Ashfield constituency in each year since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what changes there have been in the number of (a) female and (b) male part time workers in Ashfield constituency in each year since May 2010. (203810)
	The ONS compiles Labour Market Statistics for areas below the UK following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions using the Annual Population Survey (APS).
	Unfortunately, due to small sample sizes, estimates of part time working are not available for this parliamentary constituency.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Francis Maude: In the last 12 months, the following organisations have collected subscriptions through my Department and its agencies payroll services:
	Amicus
	Beneden Healthcare Society
	Charity for Civil Servants
	Charities Aid Foundation
	Charities Trust
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Sports Council
	Forester Health
	HAS Individual (Simply Health)
	Leeds Hospital Fund
	Medicash
	PCS Union
	Prospect Union
	AXA Sun-Life

Public Sector: Procurement

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make it his policy to bar (a) G4S, (b) Serco and (c) any company under investigation for serious fraud from bidding for government contracts to deliver public services; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Under the Public Contracts Regulations (2006) contracting authorities can exclude companies from public contracts where they have been convicted of certain criminal offences including conspiracy, corruption, bribery and fraud.
	For further information, I refer the hon. Member to the written statements I laid before the House on 30 January 2014, Official Report, column 39WS, and 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 11WS.

Social Security Benefits: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  what changes there have been in the claimant count for women in Ashfield constituency aged 25 and over claiming for over 24 months since May 2010;
	(2)  what changes there have been in the claimant count for women in Ashfield constituency aged between 18 and 24 years claiming for over 12 months since May 2010;
	(3)  what changes there have been in the claimant count for women aged 25 years and over claiming for over 24 months since May 2010;
	(4)  what changes there have been in the claimant count for women aged between 18 and 24 years claiming for over 12 months since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what changes there have been in the claimant count for women in Ashfield aged 25 and over claiming for over 24 months since May 2010. (203808); what changes there have been in the claimant count for women in Ashfield aged between 18 and 24 years claiming for over 12 months since May 2010. (203809); what changes there have been in the claimant count for women aged 25 years and over claiming for over 24 months since May 2010. (203813); what changes there have been in the claimant count for women aged between 18 and 24 years claiming for over 12 months since May 2010. (203814)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) from the JobcentrePlus Administrative system.
	Table 1 shows the number and net change in numbers of women claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for the requested age and duration categories, in Ashfield constituency and the UK, between May 2010 and May 2014, the latest period available.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk
	
		
			 Table 1: Number1 of women claiming jobseeker’s allowance by age and duration in Ashfield constituency and the UK 
			  Aged 25 years and over claiming for over 24 months Aged 18 to 24 years claiming for over 12 months 
			  Ashfield constituency UK Ashfield constituency UK 
			 May 2010 15 8,035 20 7,545 
			 May 2014 90 47,115 30 15,095 
			 Net change (+/-) 75 39,080 10 7,550 
			 1. Data rounded to the nearest 5. Source: Jobcentre Plus Administrative System

Teenage Pregnancy

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many teenage pregnancies there have been in each ward in the last year for which figures are available.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many teenage pregnancies there have been in each ward in the last year for which figures are available. [203734].
	Due to the sensitive nature of conception data and the risk of identifying individuals, ONS does not publish teenage pregnancy figures for individual wards. However, ward level, three-year aggregated, conception statistics are made available to authorised individuals and organisations under data access procedures jointly approved by ONS and the Department of Health.
	Figures for conceptions in England and Wales, including for women under the age of 18, are published annually on the ONS website at:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/conception-statistics--england-and-wales/index.html

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Philip Davies: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities with reference to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 575W, on the Equality and Human Rights Commission, when she plans to place the requested information on the Dignity at Work conferences in the Libraries of both Houses.

Helen Grant: Information on the Dignity at Work conferences is in the process of being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Gender: Equality

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities how much the Government has spent on the Think, Act, Report initiative.

Jo Swinson: “Think, Act, Report” was launched in September 2011. On average it has had two full-time equivalent staff working on it since then, comprising one team leader (Grade 7) and one senior executive officer. Around £5,000 has been spent on events and publications to support the initiative. Significant support in kind has been received from supporting businesses and other organisations, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, CIPD, CMI, Opportunity Now, and others. More than 200 companies are now supporting “Think, Act, Report”, collectively employing over 2 million people.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Bloody Sunday Tribunal of Inquiry

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2014, Official Report, columns 51-52W, on the Bloody Sunday Tribunal of Inquiry, what the amount was of the invoice for the hosting of the website for the Saville Inquiry; and what the totals were for any previous such invoices for that service since 2010.

Theresa Villiers: The invoice referred to in my previous answer was for £80 excluding VAT. The Northern Ireland Office paid a total of £7,900 excluding VAT for hosting and management of the Saville Inquiry website and domain name. These costs ran between 31 August 2010 and 31 March 2013, at which point the contract was terminated.

Economic Situation

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when she plans to publish the annual update on implementation of the Government's economic pact with the Northern Ireland Executive, Building a Prosperous and United Community.

Theresa Villiers: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my written statement of 3 July 2014, Official Report, columns 64-65WS .

Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment she has made of the effect of introducing the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme in Northern Ireland.

Theresa Villiers: “Building a Prosperous and United Community: One Year On” reported that the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme delivered increased funding of £5.1 million in 2013-14, bringing the total Northern Ireland funding from the scheme to £36.1 million.
	The Joint Ministerial Task Force on Banking and Access to Finance, which I chair, will continue to monitor the impact of UK-wide interventions in Northern Ireland.

Prerogative of Mercy

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland with reference to the answer of 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 521W, on Prerogative of Mercy, what progress has been made on the review of historical records relating to the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy between 1987 and 1997.

Theresa Villiers: We continue to seek information on the use of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM) for the years 1987 to 1997 from Departments where relevant material might be held.
	An overall review of departmental records and information procedures is ongoing and will include an external review of records and information procedures.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Architecture and the Built Environment Review

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when his Department plans to publish its response to the findings of the Farrell review of architecture and the built environment. [R]

Edward Vaizey: The Department is grateful to Sir Terry Farrell for undertaking this review, but does not intend to publish a formal response to it. Instead it looks to industry, under the leadership of the RIBA, to respond to the challenges identified by the review, supported—where appropriate—by Government. I continue to meet Terry Farrell on a regular basis to discuss how to take work forward.

Arts: Finance

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the regional distribution is of Arts Council England's Catalyst funds.

Edward Vaizey: The £100 million Catalyst programme is supporting the culture and heritage sector’s efforts to strengthen their fundraising expertise and build long-term financial resilience across the country.
	Regional breakdown of grants awarded by the Arts Council England:
	
		
			 Catalyst: Building Fundraising Capacity, Catalyst: Capacity Building and Match Funding and Transforming Arts Fundraising. amount committed: 
			 Region £ % 
			 London 10,199,987 25.7 
			 East Midlands 2,575,072 6.5 
			 West Midlands 3,627,294 9.1 
			 North East 2,367,058 6.0 
			 North West 4,310,188 10.9 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 6,076,001 15.3 
			 South East 2,935,806 7.4 
			 East of England 2,517,687 6.3 
		
	
	
		
			 South West 4,941,791 12.4 
			 Wales 156,562 0.4 
			 Grand total 39,707,446  
		
	
	
		
			 Catalyst: Endowments. Amount awarded at offer stage-distribution of funds depends on fundraising level 
			 Region £ % 
			 London 18,500,000 60.7 
			 East Midlands — 0.0 
			 West Midlands 3,000,000 9.8 
			 North East 2,000,000 6.6 
			 North West 2,000,000 6.6 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 3,000,000 9.8 
			 South East 1,000,000 3.3 
			 East of England 1,000,000 3.3 
			 South West - 0.0 
			 Wales - 0.0 
			 Grand total 30,500,000

Broadband

Nadhim Zahawi: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will take steps to ensure that superfast broadband is available for temporary construction sites as well as completed dwellings.

Edward Vaizey: Property developers and communications providers recognise the importance of superfast broadband provision in new builds, and that consumers’ expectation is that these services will be available on the day they move in. DCMS, with the Department for Communities and Local Government, is working with house builders and communications providers to ensure that newly built residential properties have access to fixed line superfast broadband. For temporary construction sites, where it is not possible to provide fixed line services because of time constraints, wireless and satellite options are available.

Commonwealth Games

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will hold discussions with the Sports Ministers of the devolved Administrations to ensure that following the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games immediate preparations will begin to ensure greater participation by people in all four constituent parts of the UK in the run-up to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth games.

Helen Grant: We are committed to making sure that the investment and enthusiasm unlocked by not only the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games, but also of course the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, translate into a clear legacy of more sport being played by more people of all ages and abilities from across the UK for many years to come. I am happy to discuss this ambition with the Sports Ministers of the devolved Administrations at any time.

Direct Selling

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to limit the number of nuisance telephone calls being received by members of the public.

Edward Vaizey: Tackling nuisance calls is a priority issue for the Department and we are pursuing a range of options for reform, which consists of both legislative and non-legislative measures. We believe these will help in our efforts to make a significant difference in our fight against such calls. On 30 March 2014, we published our Nuisance Calls Action Plan that set out proposals including legislation, which will enable Ofcom to share information more easily with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The order was debated in the House on 26 June and approved, which will become effective shortly after it is made. Also, we will shortly consult to lower the legal threshold, which will better enable ICO to take enforcement action against organisations that breach the rules, including those that currently manage to avoid penalties being issued to them.
	Further details about our action plan can be viewed at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled

Facebook

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  whether he has sought legal advice on Facebook's experiment on users' emotions in 2012;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens subject to Facebook's experiment on users' emotions in 2012;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with Facebook about the experiment they conducted on users to influence their emotions in 2012;
	(4)  what discussions he has had with the US administration about Facebook's experiment on users' emotions in 2012.

Edward Vaizey: Neither the Secretary of State nor I have sought specific legal advice on the recent research carried out by Facebook. In the first instance, I believe it is a matter for the Information Commissioner's Office to determine whether UK data protection laws have been breached.
	Neither have we made any estimate of the number of UK citizens that may have been subject to the research recently published by Facebook, nor had discussions with Facebook or the US administration about this. I have received a briefing paper from Facebook regarding this research, ahead of giving evidence to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee inquiry on social media data.

Film: Foreign Investment in UK

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the amount of foreign direct investment into the UK film industry in each year from 1997 to 2009.

Edward Vaizey: The Department does not hold data on the amount of foreign direct investment into the UK film industry in each year from 1997 to 2009. The amount spent in the UK on the production of inward investment films is shown in the following table, which also includes investment from UK production companies in those films. No information is held on the amount of foreign investment in other parts of the industry (for example, foreign investors in cinemas or distribution companies).
	
		
			  £ million 
			 1997 261.9 
			 1998 214.2 
			 1999 336.4 
			 2000 366.6 
			 2001 198.5 
			 2002 265.9 
			 2003 733.0 
			 2004 583.8 
			 2005 307.3 
			 2006 558.9 
			 2007 604.2 
			 2008 434.3 
			 2009 834.6 
		
	
	This data is published and available in the BFI Statistical Yearbook, which can be found online at:
	http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/statistical-yearbook.

Football: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding the Football Foundation has provided to amateur clubs in York in each year since 2000.

Helen Grant: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2000 2,670 
			 2001 810 
			 2002 45,453 
			 2003 220,781 
			 2004 37,274 
			 2005 103,193 
			 2006 714,883 
			 2007 914,784 
			 2008 448,870 
			 2009 491,808 
			 2010 427,630 
			 2011 78,934 
			 2012 33,551 
			 2013 195,553 
			 2014 35,226 
			 >1 June 2014 13,793 
			 Grand total 3,766,512 
			 Source: Football Foundation.

Football: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding the Football Youth Development Programme has provided to York City FC to date.

Helen Grant: Between 1998 and 2006 Sport England invested £556,163 in York City FC for the Football Youth Development programme. No funding has been requested since 2006.

Mobile Phones

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make it his policy that no mobile infrastructure projects will be undertaken without first fully investigating the notspot data for the relevant area.

Edward Vaizey: The planning for the Mobile Infrastructure Project was based on data originally provided by the mobile network operators and compiled by Ofcom in 2010. The operators have since made changes to their networks, going through a process of consolidating and sharing sites, and this has had an impact on the locations of not spots. Ofcom updated the not spot data for 2014 with information from the mobile network operators.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 125W, on mobile phones: Herefordshire, what tests Ofcom carried out and on what dates to establish whether there is mobile reception in Fownhope.

Edward Vaizey: The not spot data was updated by Ofcom with information from the mobile network operators. The operators submitted updated information on where they have coverage, as predicted by desktop planning tools, in March 2014. Ofcom did not carry out on the ground tests for all 34,000 not spots across the UK containing premises, as to do so would be prohibitively expensive. In areas where coverage is thought to be marginal, or there is uncertainty over coverage, DCMS officials have commissioned drive testing to check the level of coverage.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 125W, on mobile phones: Herefordshire, for what reason it was decided to proceed with the planning process for Fownhope mast before checking Ofcom’s latest notspot data.

Edward Vaizey: No planning application was made for the Fownhope mast site. The Mobile Infrastructure Project is working to tight time scales and Arqiva, our delivery partner for the Mobile Infrastructure Project, has been working to engage local communities and give early notice of where planning applications will be made.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 125W, on mobile phones: Herefordshire, if he will take steps to review the accuracy of the report by Ofcom that there is mobile reception in Fownhope.

Edward Vaizey: The report from Ofcom shows that there are some ‘not spot’ areas in Fownhope which have no coverage. However the number of not spots has reduced to a level where the Mobile Infrastructure Project can no longer go forward with plans for a mast. In areas where there is uncertainty over coverage, DCMS officials have commissioned drive testing to check the level of coverage.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 124W, on mobile phones, whether any other proposed masts in Herefordshire will be withdrawn following changes in notspot data.

Edward Vaizey: DCMS officials and Arqiva, delivery partner for the Mobile Infrastructure Project, are incorporating changes in the not spot data into the project's planning. Once this planning is finalised any changes will be communicated to planning authorities.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 125W, on mobile phones: Herefordshire, what the strength is of the mobile reception that is provided in Fownhope.

Edward Vaizey: The nature of mobile reception means that the strength of signal received by a handset varies over a set area, and is affected by local geography, and even by buildings or trees. It is also affected by the handset used, as not all mobile phones are equal in their ability to pick up a signal.
	The Mobile Infrastructure Project’s planning assesses signal at a level of Neg 86 dBm. The Project can intervene in areas where there is no mobile coverage, at this level, from any operator, and where the cost of the build of a mast considered alongside the numbers of premises that would benefit from the additional coverage provides value for money.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 125W, on mobile phones: Herefordshire, which mobile network operators provide reception in Fownhope.

Edward Vaizey: We do not hold this information. The mobile network operators provide coverage checkers which can give an indication of possible coverage by postcode.

Mobile Phones: Hertfordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 125W, on mobile phones: Herefordshire, when the notspot data held by Ofcom was updated for 2014.

Edward Vaizey: The not spot data was updated by Ofcom in March 2014 with information from the mobile network operators.

National Railway Museum

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many visits there were to the National Railway Museum in each year since 2008-09.

Edward Vaizey: The number of visits to museums and galleries sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since 2004-05 is published on Gov.uk
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/museums-and-galleries-monthly-visits
	The number of visits to the National Railway Museum in each year since 2008-09 is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2008-09 782,430 
			 2009-10 709,166 
			 2010-11 630,396 
			 2011-12 717,274 
			 2012-13 727,000 
			 2013-14 923,000

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Helen Grant: The organisations that collect subscriptions through Department for Culture, Media and Sport are:
	PCS Union
	First Division Association
	Forester/Westfield Contributions
	Benevolent Fund
	Civil Service Sports Council
	H.S.A Crown Plan
	GAYE
	Sun Life Assurance
	We do not hold information on subscriptions collected through payrolls of agencies.

Sports: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on sport in (a) the Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York local authority area in each year since 2004-05.

Helen Grant: Figures in the tables show Sport England direct investment only. The figures do not include additional money being spent on grass-roots sports by national governing bodies and other national partners in which Sport England is investing £493 million between 2013 and 2017 to get more people playing sport across England.
	(a) Yorkshire and the Humber.
	
		
			 Yorkshire and the Humber since 2004-05 
			 Financial year Total (£) 
			 2004-05 16,225,358 
			 2005-06 9,770,580 
		
	
	
		
			 2006-07 5,817,597 
			 2007-08 8,354,393 
			 2008-09 9,335,611 
			 2009-10 6,836,191 
			 2010-11 7,304,195 
			 2011-12 10,691,260 
			 2012-13 11,152,320 
			 2013-14 9,192,886 
			 Grand total 94,680,391 
		
	
	(b) The City of York local authority area.
	
		
			 York local authority area since 2004-05 
			 Financial year Total (£) 
			 2004-05 472,723 
			 2005-06 61,583 
			 2006-07 0 
			 2007-08 131,000 
			 2008-09 269,800 
			 2009-10 14,824 
			 2010-11 85,480 
			 2011-12 1,318,046 
			 2012-13 641,604 
			 2013-14 499,597 
			 Grand total 3,494,657

Sports: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) Government spending and (b) lottery funding has been spent on sport in (A) the Yorkshire and the Humber and (B) York Unitary Authority in each year since 2008-09.

Helen Grant: Figures in the tables show Sport England direct investment only. The figures do not include additional money being spent on grassroots sports by national governing bodies and other national partners in which Sport England is investing £493 million between 2013-17 to get more people playing sport across England.
	
		
			 Exchequer funding in Yorkshire and the Humber since 2008-09 
			 Fin Year Total 
			 2008-09 4,507,769 
			 2009-10 3,281,760 
			 2010-11 2,060,620 
			 2011-12 609,441 
			 2012-13 425,276 
			 2013-14 593,074 
			 Grand total 11,477,940 
		
	
	
		
			 Exchequer funding in York local authority area since 2008-09 
			 Fin Year Total 
			 2008-09 149,800 
			 2009-10 0 
			 2010-11 1,000 
			 2011-12 0 
			 2012-13 350 
			 2013-14 0 
			 Grand total 151,150 
		
	
	
		
			 Lottery funding in Yorkshire and the Humber since 2008/9 
			 Fin Year Total 
			 2008-09 4,827,842 
			 2009-10 3,554,431 
			 2010-11 5,243,575 
			 2011-12 10,081,819 
			 2012-13 10,727,044 
			 2013-14 8,599,812 
			 Grand total 43,034,523 
		
	
	
		
			 Lottery funding in York local authority area since 2008/9 
			 Fin Year Total 
			 2008-09 120,000 
			 2009-10 14,824 
			 2010-11 84,480 
			 2011-12 1,318,046 
			 2012-13 641,254 
			 2013-14 499,597 
			 Grand total 2,678,201

Television: Licensing

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he plans to review the terms of the requirements to purchase a television licence to better account for changes in viewing habits.

Edward Vaizey: BBC Charter Review is the point at which Government can consider any aspects of the BBC. Charter Review will not begin within this Parliament.

Tourism: Marketing

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how the level of funding for the GREAT Britain campaign has changed over the past 10 years.

Helen Grant: The GREAT Britain campaign was established in 2011. It showcases the very best of what this country has to offer. The campaign is currently active in over 140 countries around the world and aims to deliver significant and long-term increases in trade, tourism, education and inward investment in support of our prosperity and growth agenda. Detailed evaluation of available results shows that the campaign is making a significant economic and reputational impact, with measurable returns to date significantly exceeding the cost of the campaign.
	
		
			 Government funding for GREAT Britain campaign 
			  £ million 
			 2011-131 37 
			 2013-14 30 
			 2014-15 46.5 
			 2015-16 46.5 
			 1 Development and launch costs covered two financial years.

HEALTH

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received requesting the Government to intervene to require the British Pregnancy Advisory Service to remove advice on its website which alleges that gender-selective abortion is not illegal; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: There has been one request for intervention by the Government to require the British Pregnancy Advisory Service to remove the advice from its website.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the British Medical Association’s press release of 27 May 2014 entitled Abortion guidance ignores gender complexity; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: We have noted the views of the British Medical Association on this issue.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many admissions there were for alcohol-related illnesses in (a) York, (b) north Yorkshire and York primary care trust area and (c) England in 2008-09 and in each year since.

Jane Ellison: The following tables contain the sum of the estimated alcohol attributable fractions (AAFs) for admissions for patients in (a) York (b) north Yorkshire and York primary care trust (PCT) area and (c) England over for the year 2008-09 to 2012-13.
	It should be noted that these figures are not a count of people and represent an estimated number of admissions that were attributable to alcohol.
	AAFs are based on the proportion of a given diagnosis or injury that is estimated to be attributed to alcohol. Some diagnoses or injuries will, by definition, be wholly attributable to alcohol and have an AAF of one, others will only be partly attributable to alcohol and have an AAF greater than zero, but less than one. Diagnoses or injuries that are not attributable at all to alcohol will have an AAF of zero.
	These figures are derived by summing all AAFs for the relevant admissions and should therefore only be interpreted as an estimate of the number of admissions that can be attributed to alcohol.
	In addition, partially AAFs are not applicable to children aged under 16 years, therefore figures for this age group relate only to wholly—attributable admissions.
	The NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care—Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2014 report manually implemented new methodology against the 2012-13 data in their report. However, no change to the underlying hospital episode statistics (HES) data has been currently made.
	
		
			 Sum of partially and wholly alcohol attributable fractions1 for finished admission episodes (FAEs)2 for patients for York Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, North Yorkshire and York PCT of treatment and England for 2008-09 to 2012-133 
			 York Teaching Hospital NHS Trust 
			  Sum of wholly alcohol attributable fractions (FAEs)1 Sum of partially alcohol attributable fractions (FAEs)1 Total 
			 2008-09 1,185 3,775.21 4,960.21 
			 2009-10 1,259 3,673.31 4,932.31 
			 2010-11 1,268 4,065.70 5,333.70 
			 2011-12 1,225 3,952.58 5,177.58 
			 2012-13 2,217 7,936.95 10,153.95 
		
	
	
		
			 North Yorkshire and York PCT 
			  Sum of wholly alcohol attributable fractions (FAEs)1 Sum of partially alcohol attributable fractions (FAEs)1 Total 
			 2008-09 2,669 7,480.90 10,149.90 
			 2009-10 3,029 9,246.72 12,275.72 
			 2010-11 3,124 10,340.52 13,464.52 
			 2011-12 3,097 10,846.87 13,943.87 
			 2012-13 2,930 11,465.32 14,395.32 
		
	
	
		
			 England 
			  Sum of wholly alcohol attributable fractions (FAEs)1 Sum of partially alcohol attributable fractions (FAEs)1 Total 
			 2008-09 237,820 707,649.50 945,469.50 
			 2009-10 265,246 791,716.34 1,056,962.34 
			 2010-11 287,198 881,067.56 1,168,265.56 
			 2011-12 304,206 916,087.40 1,220,293.40 
			 2012-13 294,786 937,677.63 1,232,463.63 
			 1 Alcohol-related admissions: The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO), which uses 48 indicators for alcohol-related illnesses, determining the proportion of a wide range of diseases and injuries that can be partly attributed to alcohol as well as those that are, by definition, wholly attributable to alcohol. Further information on these proportions can be found at: www.nwph.net/nwpho/publications/AlcoholAttributableFractions.pdf The AAF is set to 1 (100%) where the admission is considered to be entirely due to alcohol, e.g. in the case of alcoholic liver disease—these records are described as wholly alcohol attributable. The AAF is set to a value greater than 0 but less than 1 according to the NWPHO definition, e.g. the alcohol fraction of an admission with a primary diagnosis of C00—malignant neoplasm of lip, where the patient is male and between 65 and 74 is 0.44—these records are described as partly alcohol attributable. These wholly and partly AAFs can be aggregated to supply an estimate of activity which can be considered wholly or partly attributable to alcohol. Partly AAFs are not applicable to children under 16. Therefore figures for this age group relate only to wholly-attributable admissions, where the attributable fraction is one. 2Finished admissions episodes: A FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. 3Assessing growth through time (admitted patient care): HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care. Note: Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

Autism

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many adults with autism accessed care and support under the Fair Access to Care Standards eligibility criteria in Cambridge constituency in each year since 2010;
	(2)  how many adults with autism in England receive support because they have been identified by a local authority as being at risk of abuse or neglect.

Norman Lamb: The Health and Social Care Information Centre does not collect any data on the number of adults with autism accessing care and support under the Fair Access to Care Services eligibility criteria.
	The Care Act 2014 clarifies and strengthens local authorities’ responsibilities towards people who are at risk of abuse or neglect. It places adult safeguarding on a statutory basis for the first time. Information on how many adults with autism in England who receive support because they have been identified by a local authority as being at risk of abuse or neglect is not held centrally.

Baby Care Units

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS England hospitals offer free breast pumps to enable mothers to express breast milk for babies in neonatal care.

Daniel Poulter: The provision of free breast pumps is a matter for individual national health service trusts. Data on the provision of free breast pumps are not collected centrally.

Care Homes

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of the proposals by Scope, HST and the Guinness Partnership to close residential care homes that serve people with physical impairments and learning difficulties.

Norman Lamb: The Department is aware that some providers of residential care for disabled people are reviewing their services and consulting with users of services and their families.
	The Department appreciates that some service users and their families may be concerned and would encourage them to engage fully with the consultation process and ensure their views are taken into account.
	The Government believes that people who wish and who are able to live in their communities should be given the support they need to do so. Service users whose care is provided or arranged by their local council can be assured that they will be supported to exercise their choice regarding where they receive services.
	The new Care Act, which will come into force in 2015, will give local authorities a core duty to promote their local market in care provision, with a particular focus on ensuring diversity, quality and sustainability which, importantly, will mean there should be sufficient high quality services available to meet the needs of individuals in their local area.

Clinical Commissioning Groups

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what services currently commissioned by NHS England will be commissioned by clinical commissioning groups following the implementation of the recommendations in Prescribed Specialised Services Commissioning Intentions 2014-15 and 2015-16;
	(2)  what resources will be transferred from NHS England to clinical commissioning groups following the implementation of the recommendations in Prescribed Specialised Services Commissioning Intentions 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Jane Ellison: NHS England has advised that there have been no changes to the scope of specialised services directly commissioned by NHS England in 2014-15, in order to provide a period of stability following the major changes in 2013-14. There has therefore, been no transfer of resources to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in 2014/15, for any changes in commissioning responsibility.
	The Manual for Prescribed Specialised Services 2013/14 describes the prescribed specialised services and sets out which elements of services are commissioned directly by NHS England, and which elements are commissioned by CCGs.
	The Prescribed Specialised Services Commissioning Intentions 2014-15 and 2015-16 document sets out the firm plans for 2014-15 and the direction for 2015-16. There will be a new set of commissioning intentions for 2015-16 to take account of the new environment and to firm up the plans for next year.
	The development of the commissioning intentions for 2015-16 is included in the work of the specialised commissioning taskforce and will be progressed over the next few months ready for publication in the autumn. The taskforce work streams also include actions relating to the future portfolio of services to be commissioned by NHS England and CCGs, and possible future commissioning models. This work will be further progressed over the summer and will inform the 2015-16 commissioning intentions.
	NHS England advise that it is yet to be determined whether or not there will be changes to the scope of specialised services directly commissioned by NHS England in 2015-16 or whether any additional resources will be transferred between NHS England and CCGs.

Clinical Commissioning Groups: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding per capita NHS England has allocated to each clinical commissioning group in Yorkshire and the Humber for 2014-15.

Daniel Poulter: NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations. The decisions that NHS England made in December 2013 mean that, over the next two years, every CCG will receive real terms funding growth.
	The funding per capita NHS England has allocated to each CCG in Yorkshire and the Humber for 2014-15 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 CCG allocations for 2014-15 
			 Clinical commissioning group Allocation per head 2014-15 (£) 
			 NHS East Riding of Yorkshire CCG 1,173 
			 NHS Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG 1,211 
			 NHS Harrogate and Rural District CCG 1,096 
			 NHS Hull CCG 1,244 
			 NHS North East Lincolnshire CCG 1,246 
			 NHS North Lincolnshire CCG 1,202 
			 NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG 1,270 
			 NHS Vale of York CCG 1,062 
			 North Yorkshire and the Humber 1,175 
			 NHS Barnsley CCG 1,366 
			 NHS Bassetlaw CCG 1,269 
			 NHS Doncaster CCG 1,329 
			 NHS Rotherham CCG 1,289 
			 NHS Sheffield CCG 1,186 
			 South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw 1,269 
			 NHS Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG 1,189 
			 NHS Bradford Districts CCG 1,182 
			 NHS Calderdale CCG 1,213 
			 NHS Leeds North CCG 1,116 
			 NHS Bradford City CCG 952 
			 NHS Greater Huddersfield CCG 1,119 
			 NHS Leeds West CCG 1,043 
			 NHS Leeds South and East CCG 1,271 
			 NHS North Kirklees CCG 1,169 
			 NHS Wakefield CCG 1,268 
			 West Yorkshire 1,163 
		
	
	A copy of the detailed CCG allocations for 2014-15 and 2015-16, published by NHS England on 20 December 2013, has already been placed in the Library, and is also available at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ccg-allocation-big-table-v2.pdf

Coeliac Disease

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many people of each gender, age bracket and household income bracket had diagnosed coeliac disease in England in the most recent year for which figures are available; [R]
	(2)  what estimate his Department has made of the potential long-term costs to the NHS in England of un-managed (a) coeliac disease and (b) other nutritional disorders; [R]
	(3)  if his Department will establish a national register of people with coeliac disease in England. [R]

Norman Lamb: Annual incidence data concerning the number of people diagnosed with coeliac disease in England is not collected and there are no plans to establish a national register for people in England with this condition. However, the clinical guideline ‘Coeliac disease: Recognition and assessment of coeliac disease’, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellences 2009, estimates that coeliac disease may be present in up to one in 100 of the population.
	No estimate has been made of the potential long-term costs to the national health service in England of un-managed coeliac disease and other nutritional disorders.

Competition

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much Monitor spent on working with and supporting the Competition and Markets Authority on competition-related issues in 2013-14; and how much it projects it will spend on that work in 2014-15.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not available. The cost of this activity is not disaggregated in Monitor’s internal reporting systems.

Consent to Medical Treatment

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his policy is on signatories of medical consent forms having access to the carbon copy of the form;
	(2)  what his policy is on medical consent forms being amended after they have been signed.

Jane Ellison: It is a general legal and ethical principle that valid consent must be obtained from an individual before starting a treatment or physical intervention. For consent to be valid it must be given voluntarily by an appropriately informed person who has the capacity to consent to the intervention in question.
	It is the responsibility of the doctor undertaking the treatment or investigation to ensure that they (or someone they delegate) obtains valid consent and that the key elements of their discussion with the patient, including any specific requests by the patient, are properly recorded in a person’s medical record or in a consent form. This might include a request for a copy of a consent form.
	Professional guidance from the General Medical Council “Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together”available at:
	www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/ethical_guidance/consent_ guidance_index.asp
	makes clear that doctors should explain the scope of decisions to be made. They should also discuss and agree with the patient how decisions will be made about whether to change the investigation or treatment plan and that doctors must not exceed the scope of the authority given by the patient. Thus changes to a person’s consent form after it has been signed, without their knowledge, may invalidate the consent.
	Other sources of guidance for health care professionals on obtaining consent include the Department’s “Reference guide to consent for examination or treatment (Second Edition):”
	www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/138296/dh_103653__1_.pdf
	and the British Medical Association’s consent toolkit:
	http://bma.org.uk/practical-support-at-work/ethics/consent

Dental Services

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients there are on orthodontic treatment waiting lists in each primary care trust area in England.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested is not held centrally.
	Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times are collected separately for 18 treatment functions (divisions of clinical work based on main specialty). These treatment functions are listed in the National Health Service Data Dictionary at:
	www.datadictionary.nhs.uk/data_dictionary/data_field_notes/t/tr/treatment_function_code_(referral_to_treatment_period) _de.asp?shownav=1
	Referral to treatment waiting times for all other treatment functions, including orthodontics, are not reported individually.
	Primary care trusts were abolished on 31 March 2013 as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and their functions taken over by clinical commissioning groups.

Dental Services: North Yorkshire

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent on NHS general dental services in North Yorkshire in 2008-09 and in each year since.

Daniel Poulter: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The total amount spent on general dental services and personal dental services contracts by the former North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) for 2008-09 to 2012-13 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 General and Personal Dental Services £000 
			 2008-09 38,857 
			 2009-10 40,632 
			 2010-11 41,773 
			 2011-12 43,438 
			 2012-13 46,694 
			 Notes: 1. General dental services cannot be separately identified in the published figures. The total gross expenditure for general dental service and personal dental service contracts is categorised between either independent contractor led contracts or on salaried led services provided by the PCT. 2. Contractor led contracts are all primary care dental services commissioned from practitioners or corporate bodies where payments are processed on the PCT's behalf by the Dental Services division of the NHS Business Services Authority. Salaried led services include the cost of any dental or support staff directly employed by the PCT and personal dental services or PCT dental services that are directly managed by PCTs or commissioned from other national health service trusts either within or outside their area. Source: NHS Summarisation schedules

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people being prescribed methadone or other opioid substitutes had their prescription reduced in 2013-14.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Eyesight: Testing

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have received eye tests on the NHS in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: The following table shows the number of national health service sight tests for persons in England from 2008-09 to 2012-13. This information has been extracted from the report, General Ophthalmic Services: Activity Statistics for England, Year ending 31 March 2013.
	
		
			  Number of NHS sight tests in England 
			 2012-13 12,339 
			 2011-12 12,306 
			 2010-11 11,939 
			 2009-10 11,812 
			 2008-09 11,278 
		
	
	This report, published 18 July 2013, can be accessed here:
	www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021A/Website-Search?productid =12003&q=general+ophthalmic+services++activity+statistics +2013&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1&area=both#top

Family Nurse Partnership Programme

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many Family Nurse Partnership places there were in each year since 2010; and what progress the Government has made on its target of doubling the number of such places by 2015.

Daniel Poulter: The commitment the Government made in 2010 to double the amount of places on the Family Nurse Partnership from a baseline of 6,000 was achieved by March 2014. It is currently expected that by 2015 there will be at least 16,000 places available. The figures for the end of each financial year since 2010 are as follows:
	
		
			 As at March: Number 
			 2011 6,000 
			 2012 9,000 
			 2013 11,000 
			 2014 13,000 
			 2015 116,000 
			 1 Expected.

Family Planning

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 151W, on family planning, what definition his Department uses for (a) contraceptive and (b) abortifacient.

Jane Ellison: Contraception is licensed to prevent pregnancy prior to implantation. An abortificient ends an established pregnancy post implantation.

General Practitioners

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many training places for general practice in each region were (a) commissioned and (b) filled in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: The Department set up Health Education England (HEE) to deliver a better health care work force for England. HEE is responsible for ensuring a secure work force supply for the future balancing need against demand, taking into account factors such as the age profile of the existing work force, the impact of technology, and new drugs.
	The table sets out the number of training places for general practice that were commissioned and filled for each of the last five years on a regional basis.
	It should be noted that the figure for 2014 represents figures for the year to date. A further recruitment round is planned by HEE in the autumn.
	
		
			 Number 
			  2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 
			  Posts Post filled Posts Post filled Posts Post filled Posts Post filled Posts Post filled 
			 England 2,732 2,800 2,672 2,658 2,687 2,669 2,761 2,738 3,043 2,630 
			 East Midlands 227 231 222 215 233 233 240 237 262 163 
			 East of England 271 274 274 273 262 261 274 274 290 281 
			 Kent, Surrey and Sussex 284 284 269 265 242 237 237 237 238 234 
			 London 339 335 411 414 387 388 406 406 441 437 
			 North East 156 158 150 150 157 152 158 154 180 124 
			 North West 388 396 396 391 377 358 388 388 443 345 
			 Oxford 100 104 95 92 100 100 102 102 112 107 
			 South West 219 223 203 203 211 214 238 238 261 244 
			 Wessex 145 148 129 133 132 132 134 134 142 129 
			 West Midlands 294 311 271 271 317 325 308 308 345 331 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 309 316 252 251 269 269 276 260 329 235 
			 Note: London comprises North West London, South London and North Central and East London local education and training board areas. Source: National Recruitment Office for General Practice Training and HEE.

Health Foods: Prescriptions

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost savings to the NHS of pharmacy-led gluten-free prescribing schemes; and if his Department will issue guidance on such schemes; [R]
	(2)  what plans his Department has to encourage the roll out of pharmacy-led gluten-free prescribing schemes in England. [R]

Norman Lamb: We have made no recent estimate.
	However, we are aware that some local assessments of these schemes have been undertaken and details of these are available at:
	www.coeliac.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/resources/community-pharmacy-supply-of-gluten-free-foods/
	NHS England can commission a gluten-free food supply service as a local enhanced pharmaceutical service in the light of local need. Neither we nor NHS England have plans to issue guidance on these schemes.

Health Professions: North Yorkshire

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent NHS (a) hospital doctors, (b) GPs, (c) dentists, (d) nurses and midwives, (e) other clinical staff and (f) staff in total were employed in (i) York and (ii) North Yorkshire in 1996-97 and in each year since; and what the staff costs in each category were in 1996-97 (A) in cash terms and (B) at current prices.

Daniel Poulter: Information is not available in the format requested.
	Full-time equivalent data for all doctors, dentists and non-medical staff for the York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and former primary care trusts in North Yorkshire have been placed in the Library.
	Information on the cost of staff permanently employed by the national health service and non-NHS staff (agency staff) in 1996-97 is not available centrally.

Health Professions: Pay

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the annual basic pay per full-time employee for qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff in (a) England, (b) the former North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT), (c) Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group and (d) York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was in 1996-97 and in each year since.

Daniel Poulter: The primary source of national health service earnings data is published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Data on average basic pay per full-time equivalent (FTE) is taken from this publication. This is based on Electronic Staff Record data which is only available from 2008-09 onwards so the data series cannot be extended into early years. Data relating to the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group cannot be provided as it is merged with data from other organisations. For ease a comparison of basic pay per headcount, which has not specifically been requested, is provided.
	
		
			 England 
			  Average Basic Pay Cash Terms (£ )(England Average) FTE Headcount 
			 2008-09 28,028 24,464 
			 2009-10 29,111 25,433 
			 2010-11 30,122 26,287 
			 2011-12 30,390 26,542 
			 2012-13 30,544 26,739 
			 2013-14 30,782 27,043 
		
	
	
		
			 York 
			  Average Basic Pay Cash Terms (£) (York Average) 
			  Former North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 
			 2008-09 29,261 26,715 
			 2009-10 30,153 27,847 
			 2010-11 31,392 28,996 
			 2011-12 32,010 29,477 
			 2012-13 33,740 29,835 
			 2013-14 — 30,123

Health Professions: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed by Warrington and Halton NHS Foundation Trust and by its predecessors in each year since 1995-96.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested is shown in the following tables:
	
		
			 NHS hospital and community health services: NHS staff by main staff group in each specified organisation as at 30 September 2001 to 2013 
			 Full-time equivalent 
			  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 
			 Halton General Hospital NHS Trust 689 710 775 818 876 962 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 355 374 422 430 459 493 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Medical and Dental staff 61 63 67 66 71 72     
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 195 204 248 247 267 278 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 99 107 107 117 121 142 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Support to clinical staff 200 193 220 256 275 307 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 173 166 191 224 240 264 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to ST&T staff 27 26 29 31 34 43 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
		
	
	
		
			            
			 NHS infrastructure support 135 141 132 132 142 162 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Central functions 50 59 54 56 58 73 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Hotel, property and estates 58 54 51 48 54 55 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Managers and senior managers 26 28 28 29 30 34 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification - 2 - - - - n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Warrington Hospital NHS Trust 1,691 1,760 1,774 1,839 1,909 2,011 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 878 914 905 959 988 1,045 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Medical and Dental staff 146 162 159 176 181 191     
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 537 540 527 552 572 611 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 196 212 220 230 235 243 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Support to clinical staff 570 599 628 625 643 673 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 460 496 523 517 531 550 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to ST&T staff 111 103 105 108 112 123 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 NHS infrastructure support 238 242 240 253 277 291 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Central functions 72 66 65 68 94 106 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Hotel, property & estates 125 128 129 144 140 141 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Managers and senior managers 41 48 46 41 44 43 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification 4 4 1 2 1 2 n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			            
			 Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,078 3,032 3,102 3,265 
			            
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,576 1,511 1,559 1,663 
			 Medical and Dental staff       252 272 274 311 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 931 868 925 977 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 393 370 361 375 
			            
			 Support to clinical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,038 1,019 1,043 1,068 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 864 816 815 831 
			 Support to ST&T staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 175 203 228 236 
		
	
	
		
			 Support to ambulance staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a - - - - 
			            
			 NHS infrastructure support n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 462 498 494 527 
			 Central functions n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 186 219 215 249 
			 Hotel, property and estates n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 196 212 204 190 
			 Managers and senior managers n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 80 67 74 87 
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 5 5 7 
		
	
	
		
			  2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Halton General Hospital NHS Trust n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Medical and Dental staff          
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Support to clinical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to ST&T staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 NHS infrastructure support n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Central functions n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Hotel, property and estates n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Managers and senior managers n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Warrington Hospital NHS Trust n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Medical and Dental staff          
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Support to clinical staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Support to ST&T staff n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 NHS infrastructure support n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Central functions n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
		
	
	
		
			 Hotel, property & estates n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			 Managers and senior managers n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 
			           
			 Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3,337 3,302 3,014 3,193 3,359 3,334 3,280 3,249 3,364 
			           
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 1,730 1,727 1,583 1,765 1,855 1,784 1,760 1,744 1,784 
			 Medical and Dental staff 315 344 282 398 456 343 349 352 364 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 1,004 987 896 937 958 978 946 918 951 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 411 397 405 430 440 463 465 474 469 
			           
			 Support to clinical staff 1,035 1,009 940 866 894 965 946 979 1,049 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 809 780 742 682 701 805 794 803 854 
			 Support to ST&T staff 226 229 198 184 193 160 152 176 195 
			 Support to ambulance staff - 0 - - - - - - - 
			           
			 NHS infrastructure support 567 560 486 557 607 577 567 518 527 
			 Central functions 266 268 226 211 231 175 207 199 192 
			 Hotel, property and estates 224 220 186 274 299 317 314 277 284 
			 Managers and senior managers 77 72 74 73 77 84 46 43 52 
			 Other staff or those with unknown classification 6 6 4 4 3 7 7 7 5 
			 Notes: 1. In 2000 Halton General Hospital NHS Trust merged with Warrington Hospital NHS Trust to form Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 2. Full time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 3. “-“ denotes 0 4. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 5. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census. Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental Workforce Census.

Health Services

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy that there should be equality of access to treatment for patients in England with specialised conditions;
	(2)  when he expects NHS England's review of specialised services commissioning to conclude; who is leading the review; what (a) NHS England employees and (b) other interested parties are participating in the review; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what the purpose is of NHS England's review of specialised services commissioning; on what date the decision to commission the review was taken; when he expects the review to conclude; whether he intends to consult on the outcome of the review; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Since April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for the commissioning of services that have been identified as specialised. NHS England’s role is to ensure that the national health service delivers better outcomes for patients requiring these specialised services in a consistent manner across the country.
	NHS England is committed to commissioning and planning a healthcare system that seeks to reduce health inequalities. In line with the ‘UK Strategy for Rare Diseases’, NHS England promotes equity of access to allow everyone with a rare disease to follow a clear, well defined care pathway, in order to achieve high quality services for every individual through integrated personal care plans. The aim is to ensure no one gets left behind just because they have a rare disease.
	NHS England has advised that the review of specialised services commissioning was initiated at the start of May and will run for an initial period of three months. Dr Paul Watson, Regional Director for the Midlands and East Region, is leading the specialised commissioning taskforce. National discussions took place at the end of April and the taskforce was established in April 2014 in order to make some immediate improvements to the way in which NHS England commissions specialised services, and to put commissioning arrangements on a stronger footing for the longer-term. This taskforce comprises of seven distinct work streams, which will focus on financial control in 2014-15, and planning for the 2015-16 commissioning round. The seven work streams each have a distinct portfolio of work, some of which is short-term, and some of which includes looking to the future and the development of a sustainable and effective model of specialised commissioning.
	Around 50 additional individuals, from different disciplines, have been drawn from across NHS England, coming together to support intensive, focused attention in a number of these work streams.
	There are aspects of the work which will require engagement with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). In consultation with the Commissioning Assembly, a specific working group has been established to enable the joint discussions with CCGs to take place. The first meeting of this group was on 4 July.
	NHS England advise that there are currently no plans to consult on the outcome of the work of the taskforce.

Health Services: EU Nationals

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people from (a) Spain, (b) Portugal and (c) Italy have used the NHS in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: The Department does not hold this information. Although the Health and Social Care Information Centre collects hospital episode statistics, these do not contain information about the patient’s residency, nationality or migration status.

Health Services: Lancaster

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to Lancaster City Council’s Local Plan for Lancaster District 2011-2031: Strategic Options for Land Allocations, what assessment his Department has made of the potential increased demand for NHS services in Lancaster District that would arise under Option 5 of that plan.

Daniel Poulter: Lancaster city council has published a public consultation on five potential options to identify additional sites for future housing development. The consultation closes on 31 July 2014. During the development of the chosen option, the local council will have to assess the provision of local infrastructure which will include health facilities. As part of this process, it would consult NHS England and the local clinical commissioning group in conjunction with local NHS service providers. These bodies are best placed to assess local needs and the Department does not become involved in these matters.

Heart Diseases

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 279W, on heart diseases, how the budget of £16.9 million for Commissioning through Evaluation announced by NHS England on 6 March 2014 is being allocated between each of the five technologies within the programme.

Jane Ellison: We understand from NHS England that the budget for Commissioning through Evaluation is being allocated as follows:
	£9 million for three interventional cardiology schemes;
	£4.8 million for selective internal radiation therapy; and
	£1.6 million for selective dorsal rhizotomy.
	£1.5 million has been removed from the budget as the renal denervation scheme is no longer being progressed. This is due to recently available research findings.

Hospitals: Debts

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether any specialist trust hospitals currently have a deficit.

Jane Ellison: As at 31 March 2014, there was one specialist trust that ended the 2013-14 financial year in financial deficit (Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust).

In Vitro Fertilisation

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 7 May 2014, Official Report, column 238W, on invitro fertilisation, whether his Department considers there to be genomic DNA present in mitochondria as distinct from nuclear genomic DNA.

Jane Ellison: As I stated in my written answer of 7 May 2014, Official Report, column 238W, there is no evidence of nuclear genomic DNA inside mitochondria. A description of the non-nuclear DNA in mitochondria and its function can be found at paragraph 2.1 on the April 2011 scientific report of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) convened Expert Panel. This can be found on the HFEA’s website at:
	www.hfea.gov.uk/6372.html

Influenza

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss a public health campaign with Transport for London to educate passengers on reducing the spread of influenza on public transport.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) engages in public health campaigns when there is an evidence-base to demonstrate the likely impact on positive public health outcomes. There is evidence that people are more likely to respond to messages about respiratory and hand hygiene when there is an imminent threat to public health, such as a pandemic.
	PHE closely monitors flu infection rates, and should rates suddenly accelerate or meet unacceptably high levels, they could activate such a campaign. Although PHE did not run a “Catch It, Bin It, Kill It” campaign during 2013-14, campaign materials e.g. print and digital resources were made available for local use.
	PHE would engage key partners such as Transport for London in the preparation of any such initiative.

Jeena International

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to respond to the letter sent to his Department by Jeena International on 27 May 2014 on the misrepresentation of its organisation in a parliamentary debate on abortion; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: A reply to the letter of 27 May has now been sent to Jeena International.

Meetings

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the taking of minutes in meetings conducted by his departmental officials with representatives of (a) other Government Departments and (b) outside organisations; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: Where meetings of formally constituted committees or boards are held, a minute of the meeting must be produced for governance purposes. For other less formal meetings, a note or minute is produced at the discretion of the officials concerned.

Mosquitoes: Greater London

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss with the Mayor of London and the chief executives of the London Boroughs possible steps to reduce the spread of mosquitoes in London.

Jane Ellison: Entomologists at Public Health England (PHE), formerly the Health Protection Agency (HPA), have been working with colleagues in the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), local authorities and port health officers to better understand the risk posed by mosquitoes in London.
	PHE discusses the issues of mosquitoes with the CIEH who then provides advice (and contact) to environmental health officers (EHOs) at the London boroughs. PHE does work with local authorities directly for specific mosquito surveillance schemes, but this is always through the principal EHO at CIEH.
	PHE currently runs a mosquito surveillance scheme to monitor problem mosquitoes from EHOs and the public, and have been conducting surveillance of invasive species at airports and seaports across England, including London.

Nurses: Pay

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average gross earnings of a full-time equivalent NHS nurse were in (a) cash and (b) real terms in (i) England and (ii) York in 1996-97 and in each year since.

Daniel Poulter: The primary source of national health service earnings data is published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. Data on average basic pay per full-time equivalent is taken from this publication. This is based on Electronic Staff Record data which is only available from 2008-09 onwards so the data series cannot be extended into early years. Data relating to York relates to the former North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust and York Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust. For reference a comparison of basic pay per headcount, which has not specifically been requested, is provided.
	
		
			 England average 
			 Headcount 
			  Average total earnings 
			  Cash (£) Real Terms (£) 
			 2008-09 28,384 31,784 
			 2009-10 29,412 32,056 
			 2010-11 30,174 32,050 
			 2011-12 30,439 31,596 
			 2012-13 30,657 31,270 
			 2013-14 30,917 30,917 
		
	
	
		
			 York average 
			 Headcount 
			  Average total earning 
			  Cash (£) Real terms (£) 
			 2008-09 27,988 31,341 
			 2009-10 29,000 31,607 
			 2010-11 30,194 32,071 
			 2011-12 30,743 31,912 
			 2012-13 31,787 32,423 
			 2013-14 30,123 30,123

Nurses: Pay

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the starting salary of a full-time equivalent NHS nurse in York was in (a) cash and (b) real terms in 1996-97 and in each year since.

Daniel Poulter: Since the introduction of Agenda for Change in October 2004, nurses who are newly qualified start at Agenda for Change band 5. Prior to Agenda for Change they started at Whitley grade D. National salary scales apply for NHS nurses in York. The starting salary for a full-time equivalent NHS nurse in cash and real terms is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Full-time national scale 
			  Cash terms starting salary Real terms starting salary 
			 1996-97 11,895 17,254 
			 1997-98 12,385 17,646 
			 1998-99 12,855 17,972 
			 1999-2000 14,400 19,744 
			 2000-01 14,890 20,271 
			 2001-02 15,445 20,470 
		
	
	
		
			 2002-03 16,005 20,730 
			 2003-04 16,525 20,997 
			 2004-05 18,114 22,397 
			 2005-06 18,698 22,705 
			 2006-07 19,166 22,623 
			 2007-08 19,683 22,663 
			 2008-09 20,225 22,648 
			 2009-10 20,710 22,572 
			 2010-11 21,176 22,492 
			 2011-12 21,176 21,981 
			 2012-13 21,176 21,600 
			 2013-14 21,388 21,388 
			 2014-15 21,478 — 
			 Notes: 1. Starting pay for a newly qualified nurse is normally the minimum of the scale applicable to basic grade qualified nurses as follows: 1996-97 to 2003-04: Whitley D grade 2004-05 o 2013-14: Agenda for Change band 5. 2. Starting pay is taken from national pay scales. 3. Figures given include any staged increases in the year in question. 4. The starting pay given for 2004-05 is the minimum of the Agenda for Change band 5 scale at the effective date of implementation of Agenda for Change on 1 October 2004. 5. The 2014-15 starting salary change is due to an adjustment to ensure all staff on spine point 5 eligible for incremental progression received at least 1% when progressing to spine point 16, which is also the current starting spine point for a newly qualified nurse. 6. The cash terms data has been converted into real terms using the latest official gross domestic product (GDP) deflator series taken from the HM Treasury website on 30 June 2014 and last updated on 20 December 2013. 7. It is not possible to convert the 2014-15 cash starting salary to real terms because of the way the GDP deflator series operates. 8. To be as up to date as possible, the real terms data is presented in 2013-14 prices. This involves using the HM Treasury forecast GDP deflator value for 2013-14.

Organs: Donors

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many organ donations have been received in Yorkshire and the Humber in 2008-09 and in each year since.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is in the following tables:
	
		
			 Deceased organ donors at hospitals in Yorkshire and the Humber - by financial year as at 30 June 2014 
			  Number 
			 2008-09 57 
			 2009-10 81 
			 2010-11 79 
			 2011-12 74 
			 2012-13 86 
			 2013-14 87 
			 2014-15 (to date) 19 
			 Total 483 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	
		
			 Total organ transplants for Yorkshire and the Humber residents1-by financial year as at 30 June 2014 
			 Total 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15(to date) 
			 Organs 305 266 300 321 320 381 94 
			 1 Transplant counts are based on recipient residence postcode rather than transplant unit Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Organs: Donors

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to maximise the use of donated organs.

Jane Ellison: The six years between April 2008 and April 2014 has seen a strengthening of the donation programme; increasing donation rates by 63% and transplant rates by 47%. The number of people registering for organ donation has increased by over 3 million since 2010 to over 20 million. NHS Blood and Transplant launched a United Kingdom strategy in July 2013, “Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020” that sets the agenda for increasing organ donation and transplantation rates over the next seven years. This includes an aim to transplant 5% more of the organs offered from donors through work to increase the number of organs retrieved, offered and accepted for transplant.

Organs: Donors

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what proportion of lungs retrieved from donors are transplanted into recipients;
	(2)  what proportion of kidneys retrieved from donors are transplanted into recipients;
	(3)  what proportion of hearts retrieved from donors are transplanted into recipients;
	(4)  what proportion of livers retrieved from donors are transplanted into recipients.

Jane Ellison: It is the responsibility of the transplanting surgeon to decide whether or not to accept a donor organ for transplant. This decision may be made both before retrieval and at retrieval, or occasionally at allocation. The following table shows those organs retrieved and subsequently transplanted over the last five years.
	
		
			 Percentage of organs retrieved that were subsequently transplanted 
			 Percentage 
			 Organ  DBD1 DCD2 Total deceased donors 
			 Lung 2013-14 93 85 92 
			  2012-13 92 79 90 
			  2011-12 96 90 95 
			  2010-11 90 85 89 
			  2009-10 85 77 84 
			      
			 Kidney 2013-14 94 87 91 
			  2012-13 93 82 88 
			  2011-12 93 87 91 
			  2010-11 94 85 91 
			  2009-10 93 87 91 
			      
			 Heart 2013-14 97 - 97 
			  2012-13 100 - 100 
			  2011-12 100 - 100 
			  2010-11 97 - 97 
			  2009-10 98 - 98 
			      
			 Liver 2013-14 95 70 89 
			  2012-13 91 74 87 
			  2011-12 92 74 88 
			  2010-11 92 69 88 
		
	
	
		
			  2009-10 93 73 89 
			 1 Donors who died after brain death 2 Donors who died after circulatory death Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 156-57W, on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the reductions in the number and proportion of severe cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome reported to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority between 2009 and 2010 and between 2010 and 2011.

Jane Ellison: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it has made no assessment of the reason as to why there was a reduction in the number and proportion of severe cases of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome reported to the authority between 2009 and 2010 and between 2010 and 2011.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 156-57W, on ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, in how many licensable treatment cycles at least (a) 30 and (b) 40 eggs per cycle were collected in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Licensable treatment cycles where at least: 
			  30 eggs were collected 40 eggs were collected 
			 2008 371 52 
			 2009 375 58 
			 2010 469 69 
			 2011 425 59 
			 2012 399 41 
			 20131 246 34 
			 1 The year 2013 only covers the period 1 January to 30 June 2013. Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Parkinson’s Disease

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what direct funding his Department has made available for research into Parkinson's disease.

Daniel Poulter: The Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) spent £4.0 million in 2013-14 on Parkinson's disease research through research programmes, research centres and units, and research fellowships.
	The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Parkinson's disease. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and the national health service, value for money and scientific quality.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Daniel Poulter: The requested information is listed as follows:
	Department of Health
	Association of First Division Civil Servants (FDA)
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Sports
	Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)
	Health and Social Security Recreational Association (HASSRA)
	Prospect (IPMS)
	Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
	Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
	Civil Service Sports
	Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)
	Health and Social Security Recreational Association (HASSRA)
	Lottery
	NIBSC Unite
	Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
	Prospect (IPMS)
	Public Health England
	Amicus/Unite
	Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)
	General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union (GMBATU)
	Health and Social Security Recreational Association (HASSRA)
	Prospect (IPMS)
	Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
	Unison

Policy

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what explicit monetary value his Department assigns to the value of preventing a fatality calculation during the process of policy appraisal and evaluation;
	(2)  at what level his Department values the reduction of risk of death per fatal casualty prevented; and if he will give an example of policy intervention where this evaluation was made.

Daniel Poulter: The value of a prevented fatality is not normally used in the appraisal of policy or project proposals by the Department. The standard unit of impact for appraisal of projects and policies that have an impact upon mortality or morbidity, including prevention of fatalities, is a statistical life year (SLY), with adjustment for quality of life impacts where appropriate (in which case quality adjusted life years (QALYs) are used). SLYs and QALYs are valued at roughly £60,000. This valuation is consistent with the willingness of members of the public to pay for improvement in health and risk outcomes elicited in the study that underpins the valuation of prevented fatalities by the Department for Transport and other Departments (Carthy T., Chilton S., Covey J., Hopkins L., Jones-Lee M., Loomes G., Pidgeon N., Spencer A., “The Contingent-Valuation of Safety and the Safety of Contingent Valuation, part 2: The CV/SG Chained Approach”, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 1999, 17: 187-213.)
	This valuation of SLYs is used by the Department in its impact assessment of the proposed draft regulations for standardised packaging of tobacco products upon which the Department is currently consulting.
	A copy of the impact assessment has been placed in the Library and is available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/consultations/standardised-packaging-of-tobacco-products-draft-regulations

Prisons: Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to ensure the efficient and timely transfer of prisoners to hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of prisoners waiting for more than 14 days for a transfer to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Norman Lamb: The implementation of an effective system for the timely transfer of prisoners to hospital is dependent on close working and co-operation between a number of organisations and agencies, including the Department of Health, Ministry of Justice (National Offender Management Service and Her Majesty’s Prison Service), the Home Office in some cases, the national health service and independent sector health providers.
	In 2011, the Department updated good practice guidance for the transfer and remission of adult prisoners under sections 47 and 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983. The guidance is available on the gov.uk website:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-transfer-and-remission-of-adult-prisoners-under-s47-and-s48-of-the-mental-health-act
	Following the NHS reforms, this is now being updated further by NHS England. NHS England plans to consult on draft guidance this year.
	The Ministry of Justice has also published guidance for those working with mentally disordered offenders, including the transfer and remission of prisoners under the Mental Health Act 1983, which is published on its website:
	www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/types-of-offender/mentally-disordered-offenders
	NHS England collects data on the number of people in England and Wales waiting to be transferred from prison to hospital. The latest data, for quarter 3 of 2013-14, shows that between September and December 2013, 186 people were waiting more than two weeks, from assessment for suitability, to be transferred from prison to hospital.

Prisons: Mental Health Services

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to ensure that prisoners in England receive adequate mental health treatment and support;
	(2)  if he will commission a survey of the prevalence of mental health problems and learning disabilities among adults and children in the prison population and in other criminal justice settings.

Norman Lamb: Improving the mental health of offenders is a priority for this Government, as set out in the mental health strategy No Health, Without Mental Health in 2011. We have acted upon the recommendations of Lord Bradley’s review, published in 2009, of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities in the criminal justice system, to ensure that people in prison have the same access to mental health services as the rest of population. The review also recommended the development of liaison and diversion services nationally, the national liaison and diversion programme is currently trialling an all age service model with the intention of national roll-out by 2017.
	The Government’s Mandate commits NHS England to develop better health care services for offenders and people in the criminal justice system, which are integrated between custody and the community, including through development of liaison and diversion services.
	We have also asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop guidelines on improving the mental health for people in prison, which is expected to be published in 2016.
	NHS England is responsible for commissioning health services, including mental health services, for people who are detained in prison or other secure accommodation. NHS England published Securing Excellence in Commissioning for Offender Health, which sets out its commissioning intentions to secure the best possible health outcomes for prisoners, detainees and children and young people in secure settings. This document is published on NHS England’s website:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/offender-commissioning.pdf
	NHS England, the National Offender Management Service and Public Health England established a national partnership agreement for the co-commissioning and delivery of health care services in prisons in England. The partnership agreement sets out the shared strategic intent and joint commitment of these organisations to deliver effective health care for offenders and improving health outcomes and reducing inequalities. A copy of the partnership agreement is published on the National Offender Management Service’s website:
	www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/about/noms/work-with-partners/national-partnership-agreement-commissioning-delivery-healthcare-prisons2013.pdf
	The Department commissioned the Office for National Statistics in 1997 to conduct a survey of the prevalence of psychiatric problems in prison. There are no plans to commission a further survey.
	The Liaison and Diversion programme has recently commissioned an evaluation of liaison and diversion services. The implementation of improved screening as part of these services will provide a level of information on offender health needs within that evaluation.

Spectacles

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the new Symfony Lens to be available on the NHS as an alternative to glasses.

Daniel Poulter: The Department's view is that spectacles or contact lenses can satisfactorily correct almost all refractory errors in a safe, cost-effective way.
	Clinical commissioning groups have the discretion to pay for a multi-focal lens on the national health service if it is judged clinically necessary for an individual patient.

Strokes

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will request that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence examines the use of Sativex or other appropriate cannabis derivatives for treatment of spasticity due to stroke.

Norman Lamb: Sativex (nabiximols) does not have a marketing authorisation for use in the treatment of spasticity due to stroke and there are no current plans to ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to issue guidance on the drug or other cannabis derivatives for this indication.

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will institute a campaign to raise public awareness of the symptoms of a transient ischaemic attack and the need for urgent treatment; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: There are no plans for any specific marketing activity around raising public awareness of transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs).
	However, Public Health England continues to run the highly impactful Act FAST stroke awareness campaign that covers very similar signs with a message to call 999 if these signs are witnessed. Two new television executions ran in March 2014 with plans to run them again later in the current financial year.
	NHS England produced a resource for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to support them in setting and delivering on a level of ambition to reduce premature mortality. The resource included information on high-impact interventions that CCGs could consider commissioning to reduce premature mortality. One of these is to increase the proportion of patients with TIA treated within 24 hours from 71% to 100%.
	The resource is available here:
	www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/sop/red-prem-mort/

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has commissioned into the effect of ensuring that patients receive urgent treatment following a transient ischaemic attack on (a) reducing the risk of stroke and (b) reducing the cost to the NHS of treating strokes.

Jane Ellison: The Department has not commissioned any recent research on these specific topics. Funding from the Department’s National Institute for Health Research has supported the EXPRESS (Early use of eXisting PREventive Strategies for Stroke) study, which aimed to measure the effect or more rapid treatment after transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke in patients who were not admitted directly to hospital.
	Evidence from the EXPRESS study has informed advice on TIA services set out in the “Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy” published last year.

Strokes

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that examples of good practice and better care pathways for the treatment of transient ischaemic attacks are disseminated throughout the NHS.

Jane Ellison: The Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) bring together clinicians from across health care settings and the wider health and care system in 12 geographic areas across England. The SCNs share best practice and promote initiatives around their core service areas which include cardiovascular disease (renal disease, diabetes, cardiac disease and stroke, including transient ischaemic attacks). The SCNs hold regular meetings to enable communication and information sharing.

Tuberculosis

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of cases of TB in (a) London and (b) England.

Jane Ellison: In 2012 in the United Kingdom, a total of 8,751 cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported, a rate of 13.9 cases per 100,000 population. In 2011, 8,899 TB cases were reported in the UK (rate: 14.1/100,000 population), and 8,397 TB cases were reported in 2010, a rate of 13.5 per 100,000 population.
	In the UK, the main burden of TB is concentrated in large urban areas; in 2012, London had the highest proportion of cases (39%) followed by West Midlands (12%).
	The Department recognises the public health importance of TB, particularly among groups at higher risk of TB, such as migrants from high incidence countries and persons with social risk factors, such as homelessness, imprisonment and drug and alcohol use in England and within large metropolitan areas, like London.
	We also recognise the contribution that latent TB infection (LTBI) makes to the overall TB disease burden. Systematic LTBI testing and treatment is part of the recommendation in the current TB guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2011) and are a key intervention in the draft collaborative TB strategy for England, being led by Public Health England (PHE).
	The Department is also concerned about the high TB rates in persons with social risk factors, which is why it commissioned NICE to produce a short clinical guidance on TB services for underserved groups. The guidance makes clear recommendations for active case finding and other interventions in these groups (published in March 2012). The Department is funding research projects on identifying latent TB in relation to the effectiveness of testing for latent TB and on the prognostic value of these tests to predict the progression from latent to active TB.
	PHE has made TB one of its main priorities, and is leading a coalition of key stakeholders, including the Department, NHS England, Local Government and other key public and voluntary organisations, to develop a national TB strategy.
	The strategy aims to bring together best practice in clinical care, social support and public health to strengthen TB control, leading to a year on year decrease in incidence, a reduction in health inequalities associated with TB, and to contribute to the eventual elimination of the disease.
	The consultation process for the formulation of the strategy started in March 2014 and ended in June 2014. The strategy will be launched sometime in the autumn 2014.
	The following link is for the TB Strategy consultation, which provides useful information on introducing TB controls in England:
	www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317140970182
	In London, a London TB Control Board has been constituted with representation from all agencies involved in preventing, controlling and treating TB, to try and replicate the progress made in other major international cities such as New York and Paris.

Valuation of Life and Health Interdepartmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what monetary thresholds were applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year quoted in the evidence submitted as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008;
	(2)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review;
	(3)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of his Department's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review;
	(4)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of the Health Protection Agency's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review;
	(5)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of the Food Standards Agency's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

Daniel Poulter: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer given on 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 283W.
	The focus of the work of the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health has been methodological rather than upon specific measures of value. It has focused upon the appropriate units for the measurement of impacts on life and health risks in different circumstances, and the methodology to be applied to valuation of those units in different contexts. Nevertheless, as a spur to the methodological investigation, an initial survey of monetary valuations of various units of impact by different departments and agencies including case studies was undertaken. This was conducted by the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds and compiled into a “Survey of the Value of Life/ Health used in Government Departments”, which has been placed in the Library. In addition, the Health and Safety Executive and the Department for Transport have already placed in the Library their members’ responses to the ITS survey.
	Development of monetary thresholds to be applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year is not within the remit of the Group.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients had been waiting for (a) over six months and (b) three months for in-patient admission at York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in March 1997 and in each year since.

Jane Ellison: Information is not available in the format requested. Information on the number of patients waiting over six months and three months for in-patient admission at what is now York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from March 1997 to March 2010 is shown in the following table.
	Since 2007, waiting times on a referral to treatment (RTT) basis have been published. Information on the number of patients who waited over six months and over three months on an admitted RTT pathway at York Teaching Hospital NHS FT between March 2008 and March 2012 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Organisation1 Six months Three months 
			 1997 York Health Services NHS Trust 1,317 3,138 
			 1998 York Health Services NHS Trust 2,744 4,651 
			 1999 York Health Services NHS Trust 1,641 3,368 
			 2000 York Health Services NHS Trust 1,752 3,540 
			 2001 York Health Services NHS Trust 1,884 3,488 
			 2002 York Health Services NHS Trust 1,900 3,697 
			 2003 York Health Services NHS Trust 1,7H 3,416 
			 2004 York Health Services NHS Trust 826 2,542 
			 2005 York Health Services NHS Trust 532 2,076 
			 2006 York Health Services NHS Trust 0 1,490 
			 2007 York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (FT) 0 606 
			 2008 York Hospitals NHS FT 0 227 
			 2009 York Hospitals NHS FT 0 298 
			 2010 York Hospitals NHS FT 0 132 
			 1As at March each year. Note: Data on in-patient waiting lists not collected after March 2010. Source: Department of Health KH07 from March 1992 to March 2007 and MMRProv (monthly monitoring return) from March 2008 to March 2010. 
		
	
	
		
			 Organisation1 Six months Three months 
			 2008 York Hospitals NHS FT 42 413 
		
	
	
		
			 2009 York Hospitals NHS FT 46 529 
			 2010 York Hospitals NHS FT 44 449 
			 2011 York Teaching Hospital NHS FT 38 530 
			 2012 York Teaching Hospital NHS FT 119 736 
			 2013 York Teaching Hospital NHS FT 89 864 
			 2014 York Teaching Hospital NHS FT 277 1,178 
			 1 As at March each year. Source: Department of Health monthly RTT return.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were waiting for elective admission at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on 1 April in 1996 and in each year since.

Jane Ellison: The number of patients waiting for elective admission at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for each year between March 1996 and March 2010 is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Ending March each year: Number waiting at period end 
			 1996 6,081 
			 1997 6,846 
			 1998 8,445 
		
	
	
		
			 1999 6,715 
			 2000 6,477 
			 2001 6,317 
			 2002 6,354 
			 2003 6,425 
			 2004 5,714 
			 2005 5,211 
			 2006 4,738 
			 2007 3,055 
			 2008 2,536 
			 2009 2,675 
			 2010 2,336 
			 Note: Data on in-patient waiting lists not collected after March 2010. Source: Department of Health KH07, Monthly monitoring return

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the mean and median waiting time was for treatment at accident and emergency in York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2007-08 and in each year since.

Jane Ellison: The following table shows the mean and median waiting times for assessment, treatment, and departure at accident and emergency departments at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
	
		
			  Mean duration to assessment Median duration to assessment Mean duration to treatment Median duration to treatment Mean duration to departure Median duration to departure 
			 2007-08 23.3 17 23.1 17 120.0 102 
			 2008-09 24.1 17 24.0 17 116.0 99 
			 2009-10 27.1 19 26.8 19 112.7 100 
			 2010-11 30.9 22 30.5 22 118.0 105 
			 2011-12 24.8 15 55.7 39 95.0 77 
			 2012-13 17.2 5 45.0 26 111.8 88 
			 Notes: 1. Duration to Assessment The total amount of time in minutes between the patient’s arrival and their initial assessment in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department. This is calculated as the difference in time from arrival at A&E to the time when the patient is initially assessed. 2. Duration to Treatment The total amount of time in minutes between the patient’s arrival and the start of their treatment. This is calculated as the difference in time from arrival at A&E to the time when the patient began treatment. 3. Duration to Departure The total amount of time spent in minutes in the A&E department. This is calculated as the difference in time from arrival at A&E to the time when the patient is discharged from A&E care. This includes being admitted to hospital, died in the department, discharged with no follow up or discharged—referred to another specialist department. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients were waiting for a first out-patient appointment at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on 1 April and 1 October in 2004 and on the same dates in each year since.

Jane Ellison: Information is not available in the format requested. The number of patients waiting for a first out-patient appointment at York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust on 1 April and 1 October in each year since 2004 are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Month ending: Number waiting at period end 
			 September 2004 4,800 
			 March 2005 7,697 
			 September 2005 7,644 
			 March 2006 5,530 
			 September 2006 4,416 
			 March 2007 2,728 
			 September 2007 3,423 
			 March 2008 2,237 
			 September 2008 2,311 
			 March 2009 2,067 
			 September 2009 1,987 
			 March 2010 1,602 
			 Notes: 1. Out-patient waiting times are measured from general practitioner referral to first out-patient appointment. 2. Figures first published June 2004 and last published March 2010. Source: Department of Health QM08, monthly monitoring return.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many finished consultant episodes there were at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in each year since 2008-09 and in each year since.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Count of finished consultant episodes1 where the provider was York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, for the years 2008-09 to 2012-132 
			  FCEs 
			 2008-09 87,023 
			 2009-10 91,528 
			 2010-11 97,719 
			 2011-12 103,847 
			 2012-13 164,691 
			 1Finished consultant episode (FCE) A FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. 2Assessing growth through time (admitted patient care) Hospital Episode Statistics figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years) and changes in national health service practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Cyber-attacks

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the preparedness of the police to respond to a cyber-attack.

Karen Bradley: The Government takes the threat of cyber attack seriously. Last year we created the National Cyber Crime Unit in the National Crime Agency, to lead the national response to cyber crime. We are also investing in the cyber teams in Regional Organised Crime Units, and training police officers in local forces, to ensure we are fully equipped to tackle cyber attacks at every level. And we are strengthening the Computer Misuse Act to ensure that the punishments available to prosecute cyber criminals fit the crime.

Animal Experiments

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make the homing of cats, dogs and other animals no longer required for experimentation a mandatory requirement for laboratories.

Norman Baker: There are no legislative proposals to make the homing of cats, dogs and other animals no longer required for experimentation a mandatory requirement for laboratories.
	European directive 2010/63/EU, which was implemented in the UK and other member states on 1 January 2013, sets out the conditions under which animals may be re-homed in article 19. These provisions are reflected in our Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1983, section 5.21.

Asylum

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inspection of the UK Border Agency's handling of legacy asylum and migration cases, published in November 2012, what steps have been taken in response to recommendation 1 of that report.

Karen Bradley: The Older Live Cases Unit routinely and regularly matches asylum and migration legacy cases against the Police National Computer (PNC) and Warnings Index (WI) records, until the point at which cases are finally concluded. The checks are undertaken on a rolling three monthly basis. Results are recorded on a bespoke database which informs the decision-making process within the Older Live Cases Unit.
	Compliance with the recommendation was acknowledged by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration in his report, An investigation into the progress made on legacy asylum and migration cases January-March 2013, published in June 2013, where he stated, “security checks had been completed in each of the cases we sampled (144), indicating that the agency had implemented our earlier recommendation to routinely and regularly match legacy cases against the PNC and WI until finally concluded.”

Asylum: Children

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inspection into the Handling of Asylum Applications made by Unaccompanied Children, published in October 2013, what steps have been taken in response to recommendations 1, 3, 4 and 8 of that report.

James Brokenshire: In response to recommendation 1, a clear and consistent approach has been adopted. A pilot was run shortly after the inspection that led to the adoption of a new screening process for unaccompanied children; this has led to increased consistency between the Home Office and local authorities. All initial screenings take place within five days of initial claim. Local authorities are clearly responsible for facilitating the access to legal advice and responsible adults prior to the screening interview.
	In response to recommendation 3, this guidance and policy has been reinforced locally. The Asylum Casework Directorate has implemented new structures that offer better technical support for promoting and monitoring family tracing. This guidance has been reinforced locally in all teams through the creation of specialised family and minors teams in each regional location. Work is ongoing with the Foreign Office on new family tracing arrangements for volume UASC nationalities (Albanian and Afghan) that should help to expedite the tracing process in these countries. The practicality of specialised teams will be reviewed once all decision units are fully staffed.
	In response to recommendation 4, the move to a single national directorate has led to greater consistency and control of asylum case work. This has helped to address the consistency of operations and outcomes in each of the seven casework locations. Customer service standards have been reviewed with the expectation that straightforward claims can expect to receive their decision within six months. Unaccompanied children should receive their decisions quicker than that.
	In response to recommendation 8, as part of the ongoing continuous improvement programme decision letters have been reviewed and changed. Templates are now clearer, more concise and customer friendly. This new approach to producing more concise grant letters and minutes has been implemented while a pilot regarding refusal letters is under way.

Commonwealth Games 2014

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will take steps to ensure that participants in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 are prevented from staying in the UK illegally after the Games have finished.

Karen Bradley: The rigorous Accreditation Process that contributed to the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 has also been central to our preparations for Glasgow 2014.
	To minimise attempts to abuse our hospitality after the Games have ended, comprehensive record checks on all Commonwealth Games participants and Games Family Members are conducted before they are cleared to enter the UK. We have also introduced arrangements to confirm that people given Commonwealth Games clearance have left the UK within their permitted time limits.

Cybercrime

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress has been made by the Cyber Crime Reduction Partnership over the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The UK Cyber Security Strategy, which includes a commitment to develop a partnership group with industry on cybercrime, was published in November 2011.
	The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude), gave the second annual report on progress against objectives set out in the strategy on 12 December 2013, Official Report, columns 43-47WS. The Minister for the Cabinet Office also placed before Parliament a list of achievements over the preceding year and a document that outlines its future plans. The documents can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-cyber-security-strategy-2-years-on
	The partnership, one of a set of engagement points with industry on cyber-security, provides an opportunity to raise awareness of cybercrime among members, helping them to become more resilient to the threat. To date, it has provided a forum for partners to share views on key changes to the law enforcement landscape on cyber and contribute to key actions in the strategy. This includes work to co-ordinate cyber-security messages to the private sector.

Educational Testing Service

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department at which main institutions the student immigrants who were found to have either invalid or questionable English language test results by the Government's recent review of the test provider Educational Testing Services intended to extend their studies.

James Brokenshire: Following the review of English language test results provided by Educational Testing Service test centres, on 24 June the Home Office took action against 60 institutions that sponsored students with invalid or questionable test results. The list of sponsors against whom action was taken was placed in the Library of the House on that day and was also published on the Gov.uk website as part of a “Home office immigration action against education institutions: factsheet”:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/323106/sponsor-suspensions.pdf

Educational Testing Service

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the main nationalities were of the student immigrants who were found to have either invalid or questionable English language test results by the Government's recent review of the test provider Educational Testing Services.

James Brokenshire: As I stated in my oral statement to Parliament on 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 206-08, analysis is being provided by the American arm of Educational Testing Service (ETS) on those with invalid or questionable results. Analysis is on-going and it is not possible to provide data on nationality at present. As I stated to the House on 24 June, the Home Office will provide regular updates to the House on progress with work to remove these students and on further information we receive from ETS.

HM Passport Office

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people employed by HM Passport Office were specifically tasked with processing passport applications on 1 January, (a) 2011, (b) 2012, (c) 2013 and (d) 2014.

James Brokenshire: The table shows the number of Her Majesty's Passport Office full-time equivalents working within the passport operational Directorates.
	The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar month. We have therefore provided the data as of 31 December of each year.
	
		
			  Number 
			 (a) 2011 2,360 
			 (b) 2012 2,265 
			 (c) 2013 2,457 
		
	
	Due to the limitations of the HR management system used prior to December 2010, it is not possible to provide reliable management information below top level for any periods prior to that date.

HM Passport Office

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people employed by HM Passport Office were specifically tasked with processing passport applications on (a) 1 January, (b) 1 February, (c) 1 March, (d) 1 April, (e) 1 May and (f) 1 June 2014.

James Brokenshire: The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar month.
	The following table shows the number of Her Majesty's Passport Office full-time equivalents working within the passport operational Directorates.
	
		
			  Number 
			 (a) On 31 December 2013 2,457 
			 (b) On 31 January 2014 2,515 
			 (c) On 28 February 2014 2,559 
			 (d) On 31 March 2014 2,593 
			 (e) On 30 April 2014 2,611 
			 (f) On 31 May 2014 2,629 
			 Note: Her Majesty's Passport Office records migrated to the Department’s strategic record system during this period and are subject to enhanced validation checks. Several months in this time series have a variance of +/- 2 FTE.

HM Passport Office

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the savings generated by closing passport offices in the last five years; and what estimate she has made of the total cost of (a) cancelled and (b) altered flights due to delayed passport applications in 2014.

James Brokenshire: No passport offices have been closed in the last five years.
	Restructuring of passport operations between 2010 and 2012 entailed the closure of some interview offices and relocation of the Newport passport office. These changes realised annual savings of approximately £7.2 million per year.
	We do not collect data on the costs of cancelled and altered flights.

HM Passport Office

Mike Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the information given to passport applicants through the 0300 passport helpline is current and in real time.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty's Passport Office regularly reviews the guidance issued to the helpline provider, and updates it to reflect any changes in processes or customer requirements.
	Information on the progress of applications can be provided from information that is either live or updated daily, dependent on the nature of the inquiry.

Human Trafficking: Albania

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to her answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 441W, on human trafficking: Albania, how many female victims of trafficking have returned from England using the International Organisation for Migration voluntary return package and taken up the facilities made available by the government in Albania; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: In November 2013, the UK Government and the Albanian Government, working with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), established a voluntary return package for female victims of trafficking who wished to return to Albania. This comprehensive package includes the provision of secure accommodation in Albania (with guards and social services on site), child care assistance where required, and training or support to establish a business or enter the labour market. This provides the high level of support and assistance required for victims who wish to return to Albania to rebuild their lives. Although no victims have yet availed themselves of the package, a number of potential cases have been identified and the Home Office is actively working with the Albanian Government, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and IOM to improve the promotion of the scheme among those who may qualify and identify and address any perceived barriers to return.

Human Trafficking: Children

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to recognise child trafficking as a separate offence to adult trafficking.

Karen Bradley: The most effective way to protect child victims of trafficking is to have a general offence, which applies to both adults and children. The Modern Slavery Bill contains a general human trafficking offence, which does not require prosecutors to prove the age of the child, as this can lead to practical problems during prosecutions. Targeting a child will, however, be an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes, and the human trafficking offence in the Modern Slavery Bill will carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Human Trafficking: Children

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Attorney General on her policy in relation to the prosecution of child victims of trafficking who are forced to commit crimes.

Karen Bradley: The Modern Slavery Bill provides for a statutory defence for victims of slavery and trafficking who have been compelled to commit an offence as direct result of their trafficking or slavery situation. In preparing the Bill, I have had discussions with ministerial colleagues including with the Attorney-General in relation to the statutory defence.
	When considering whether the defence applies, the age, sex and any physical or mental illness or disability of the victim is relevant under the test set out in the Bill.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the total number of ministerial replies from her Department to hon. Members in a parliamentary session; and what proportion of such replies are sent (a) by letter and (b) by email.

Karen Bradley: The total number of ministerial replies sent to hon. Members between 1 January and 31 December 2013 was 56,193. This figure includes replies sent by letter or email. We do not collect information centrally on the volumes of responses provided by email and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans her Department has to increase the number of replies sent electronically to letters from hon. Members.

Karen Bradley: The Government’s digital strategy details the approach we will take to evolve our service provision. Where the Home Office receives high volumes of correspondence from MPs, such as on immigration matters, we work proactively with MPs and their caseworkers to provide them with the most efficient and convenient service and encourage increasing use of emails and telephones as channels of communication.

Nazi War Crimes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many investigations have been carried out by Scotland Yard since 1984 on suspected individuals involved in crimes by the SS in the Second World War.

Damian Green: The Home Office does not hold this information.

Organised Crime

Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect of serious and organised crime on communities.

Theresa May: The Government takes the threat of cyber attack seriously. Last year we created the National Cyber Crime Unit in the National Crime Agency, to lead the national response to cyber crime. We are also investing in the cyber teams in Regional Organised Crime Units, and training police officers in local forces, to ensure we are fully equipped to tackle cyber attacks at every level. And we are strengthening the Computer Misuse Act to ensure that the punishments available to prosecute cyber criminals fit the crime.

Passports

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the average waiting time for people (a) applying for a passport renewal and (b) waiting for a call back from the Passport Office.

James Brokenshire: The information requested is as follows:
	(a) Expected service standards for passport renewals are published at:
	https://www.gov.uk
	(b) The current guideline for returning calls to customers is to do so within 48 hours. Her Majesty's Passport Office gives priority to those with the most immediate travel plans.

Passports

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with the Passport Office about the updating of advice on timescales during busy periods for (a) the renewal of a passport and (b) the time it will take for staff to call an applicant back.

James Brokenshire: Ministers have held frequent recent discussions with Her Majesty's Passport Office.
	Current advice for customers on expected service standards is published on:
	https://www.gov.uk
	The current guideline for returning calls to customers is to do so within 48 hours. Her Majesty's Passport Office gives priority to those with the most immediate travel plans.

Passports

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent reports she has received of changes in the backlog for processing (a) new passport applications and (b) passport renewals.

James Brokenshire: Ministers receive regular reports on the performance of Her Majesty's Passport Office.

Passports

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to compensate people who have paid for an upgrade in their passport application as a result of delays in processing their original application.

James Brokenshire: Anyone who needs to travel within the next seven days and who has waited longer than the standard processing time of three weeks, through no fault of their own, will be able to upgrade their application without charge. After their application has been through the proper checks, the processing, printing and delivery of the new passport will be fast-tracked for free. This policy was announced by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to the House of Commons on 12 June and will not be applied retrospectively.
	HM Passport Office's policy on compensation is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/compensation-and-complaints-handling

Passports

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of applicants who have upgraded to a premium service following contact with the Passport Office in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The table below shows the number of people who have upgraded from a standard to a premium service.
	
		
			  Number of upgrades 
			 January 2014 6 
			 February 2014 17 
			 March 2014 117 
			 April 2014 996 
			 May 2014 1,024 
		
	
	The specific information required is held in application ‘case notes’ on Her Majesty’s Passport Office systems which cannot be mined through database queries. Data presented here is an estimate for 2014.
	Information on the number of upgrades prior to January 2014 has not been collated centrally.

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations she has received from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the processing of passport applications from abroad since 1 January 2014.

James Brokenshire: Home Office Ministers have regular discussions with ministerial colleagues and others. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Passports

Iain McKenzie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to reimburse people who have had to pay to upgrade to the premium one-day service to secure a (a) new or (b) renewed passport; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: There are no plans to reimburse customers who choose to use the four hour premium service.
	On 12 June 2014, Official Report, column 693, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), announced in the House of Commons that where people have an urgent need to travel, and their application has been with Her Majesty's Passport Office for longer than the standard processing time of three weeks through no fault of their own, they will be able to upgrade their application without charge. After their application has been through the proper checks, the processing, printing and delivery of the new passport will be fast-tracked for free. To qualify, customers must be booked to travel within the next seven days. Customers will be asked to provide details—such as flight numbers and the name of the travel company—to confirm their travel plans.
	This policy came into effect immediately after being announced and will be available until further notice. This policy will not be applied retrospectively.

Passports: Scotland

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people resident in Scotland were issued with passports for (a) collection and (b) interviews at offices outside of Scotland in each of the last four years for which records are most recent.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty's Passport Office does not hold this information broken down by residency of applicant. The cost of providing it from individual applicant data would be disproportionate.

Passports: Welsh Language

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to ensure that Welsh language service provisions are maintained whilst her Department clears the passport applications backlog.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty's Passport Office has a number of policies and provisions in place to ensure customers can communicate with Her Majesty's Passport Office in Welsh.
	We work closely with the Office of the Welsh Language Commissioner to ensure that we offer quality services in line with the Welsh Language Act 1993.

Raytheon

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what financial provision her Department has made to cover the (a) ongoing legal costs of and (b) costs of a potential settlement resulting from the binding arbitration process brought by Raytheon Systems Ltd.

Karen Bradley: Ongoing legal costs will be met from departmental resources, although no specific financial provision has been made for this or for the costs of a potential settlement. The costs of a potential settlement have been recognised as a contingent liability in the Home Office accounts since 2011-12.

Raytheon

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department has made on reaching a settlement with Raytheon Systems Ltd on the e-Borders programme; and when the arbitration progress is scheduled to be completed.

Karen Bradley: The Home Office would like the dispute with Raytheon to be concluded as swiftly as possible. It is not unusual that an international arbitration of this complexity should take a considerable time to resolve. The Home Office has done everything possible to progress the Arbitration as quickly as possible. The evidential hearings concluded in April 2013.

UK Border Agency

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of running (a) the Case Resolution Directorate, (b) the Case Assurance and Audit Unit and (c) the Older Live Cases Unit in each year of those bodies' operations.

Karen Bradley: The operational costs of running the Case Resolution Directorate (excluding enforcement costs, detention and removal escort costs or asylum and immigration tribunal costs) was approximately £32 million per year. The costs are inclusive of an outsourced administrative function in 2009-11. Support costs for applicants were accounted for separately for this period.
	The total running costs of the Case Assurance and Audit Unit was £27.4 million (2011-12) and £19.5million (2012-13). The total running costs of the Older Live Cases Unit was £7.8 million (2013-14). The Older Live Cases Unit budget spend to date for 2014-15 is £1.87 million. Since setting up the Case Resolution Directorate, operational running costs have decreased year on year.

UK Border Agency

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Investigation into the Establishment of the Performance and Compliance Unit, published in May 2013, what steps have been taken in response to recommendation 1 of that report.

James Brokenshire: Following the reorganisations which flowed from the decision to bring the functions of the UK Border Agency back into direct ministerial control, the Performance and Compliance Unit no longer exists.

Valuation of Life and Health Interdepartmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the explicit monetary value per quality-adjusted life was in the context of homicide and crime categories of wounding, sexual offences, common assault and robbery, as quoted as part of her Department’s submission to the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008;
	(2)  if she will place in the Library a copy of her Department’s submission to the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review and all evidence submitted to the series of interviews with her Department’s staff conducted by researchers from the university of Leeds in 2008.

Norman Baker: A copy of the Home Office’s written response to the 2008 Survey of Departmental Practice in the Valuation of Life and Health will be placed in the Library. The Home Office does not have a record of its response to the questions in stage 2 of the survey. This is because the interviews were carried out face-to-face with researchers at the university of Leeds.
	The Home Office first estimated the social and economic costs of crime in 2000, available at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218135832/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors217.pdf
	The most recent update to these estimates prior to the Department’s submission to the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008 was published in 2005, available at:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100413151441/http:/www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsolr3005.pdf
	The monetary value per quality-adjusted life year used in the 2005 report was £80,620 in 2003 prices. This was based on a paper by Carthy et al. (1999).

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions his Department has had with bodies in Northern Ireland on addressing climate change.

Gregory Barker: Ministers and officials in the Department engage with their counterparts regularly in the Northern Ireland Executive on a wide range of issues including work related to the transition to a low carbon economy and tackling climate change. This includes, for example, discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on the Electricity Market Reform programme, which is designed to decarbonise our electricity generation, and updating them on international climate change policy developments, such as United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations.

Dungeness B Power Station

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the application by EDF Energy to relax safety limits at Dungeness nuclear power station.

Michael Fallon: The application by EDF Energy regarding safety limits in its safety case at Dungeness B is a regulatory matter and therefore taken forward by the independent nuclear regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which reviews such arrangements set out in safety cases.
	I understand that EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd submitted a revised safety case to ONR to demonstrate that safety would be maintained at Dungeness B as a result of their proposals to revise the safety limits for allowable graphite weight loss in the reactor cores, and that ONR was satisfied that the justifications in the revised safety case demonstrated that the licensee’s obligations to ensure safety would be met.

Electricity

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 1258, on energy security, on which process he calculated that there has been £45 billion of electricity investment since 2010.

Michael Fallon: The estimate of more than £45 billion of electricity infrastructure investment between 2010 and 2013 is calculated by DECC based on modelling consistent with the EMR Delivery Plan.
	The modelling suggests that since 2010, over £30 billion has been invested in electricity generation capacity, principally in renewable technologies. In addition, since 2010, more than £16 billion of investment has been made in electricity transmission and distribution.
	Generation capacity investment levels are determined by multiplying capacity changes by a technology specific capital cost per unit of capacity value, which varies over time. A project’s total investment cost is profiled over its construction lifetime, with total annual investment levels reflecting the sum of investment in that year across all technology types. All data on costs and profiles is taken from DECC’s Electricity Generation Costs dataset.
	Onshore and offshore transmission network investment estimates come from National Grid’s networks module that has been added to DECC’s dispatch model as part of the EMR Delivery Plan analysis.1 Network investment for onshore transmission owners is based on additions to network owners’ regulated asset value under the price control periods consistent with National Grid’s Gone Green scenario. From 2013 onwards Gone Green investment estimates are adjusted for different uptake of technologies in DECC’s dispatch modelling.
	Network investment for offshore transmission is calculated by using a relevant cost associated with Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs) based on an average cost per kW for known projects. This is multiplied by offshore wind capacity built.
	Investment in distribution networks is based on additions to network owners’ regulated asset value under the DPCR5 price control period.
	Further detail on DECC’s Electricity Generation Costs is available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/decc-electricity-generation-costs-2013
	1 Find further detail in the National Grid report:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/267614/Annex_D_-_National_Grid_EMR_Report.pdf

Energy

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the evidential basis is for the statement in paragraph 2.1 of his departmental annual report 2013-14, HC9, published on 26 June 2014, that investment in cleaner energy infrastructure will help support up to 250,000 jobs by 2020.

Michael Fallon: We estimate that investment in new, cleaner energy infrastructure through the government’s Electricity Market Reforms will help support up to 250,000 jobs by 2020. This reflects estimates of how many jobs could be supported by electricity generated using renewable, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage technologies, and includes jobs in the relevant supply chains.
	In nuclear energy, we estimate there will be between 69,000 and 81,000 jobs by 2020. This is made up of 29,000-41,000 jobs across the nuclear supply chain at the peak of construction activity, from the 16GW of new build capacity industry is planning to build by 2030, in addition to the 40,000 people currently employed in nuclear energy.1
	We also estimate that up to 200,000 jobs could be supported in renewable electricity by 2020. This estimate is based on the Renewable Energy Association’s estimate of employment in the sector in 2012-132, and a range of possible deployment levels in 2020 as set out in the Government’s Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan.3
	Within the carbon capture and storage sector, we estimate that around 8,000 jobs could be supported in the early stages of deployment by 2020.4
	1 The Economic Benefits of the UK’s Nuclear Supply Chain Capabilities, Oxford Economics, 2013 (A report commissioned for DECC)
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/168017/bis-13-633-the-economic-benefit-of-improving-the-uk-nuclear-supply-chain-capabilities.pdf
	2 REVIEW-Renewable Energy View 2013, Renewable Energy Association, April 2014
	http://www.r-e-a.net/resources/rea-publications
	3 EMR Delivery Plan, DECC, 2013
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-market-reform-delivery-plan
	4 DECC estimate DECC estimate based on AEA analysis-Assessing the domestic supply chain barriers to the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage within the power sector (2013).
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessing-the-domestic-supply-chain-barriers-to-the-commercial-deployment-of-carbon-capture-and-storage-within-the-power-sector

Energy Companies Obligation

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the average saving on energy bills for households that have received measures under the Energy Company Obligation.

Gregory Barker: The Department has not estimated the average savings on energy bills for households that have received measures specifically under the Energy Company Obligation. The saving on energy bills will depend on several factors including the particular measure installed, energy prices and household characteristics that affect their energy consumption.
	However, more generally, DECC has estimated that households can save from around £25 to £270 or more per installation per year from installing the main insulation measures (e.g. loft, cavity and solid wall). This is based on estimated energy savings from an illustrative three bedroom semi-detached house (see 2012 Final Green Deal and ECO IA for details):
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/42984/5533-final-stage-impact-assessment-for-the-green-deal-a.pdf

Energy: Prices

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to reduce consumer energy prices in-line with changes in the wholesale market prices.

Michael Fallon: In a competitive market, pricing decisions are a commercial matter for companies.
	Consumers can put pressure on companies to reduce prices by switching to the best deal for them-Ofgem's Retail Market Reforms to deliver a simpler, clear market combined with Government's push to significantly reduce switching times and require suppliers to share consumer data with trusted third parties, should make this easier to do.
	The Government supported Ofgem's recent move to write to the largest suppliers, challenging them to explain to consumers the impact of falling wholesale prices on their retail prices. Evidence that large suppliers raise prices more quickly when costs increase than they reduce prices when costs fall was one of the issues underpinning Ofgem's recent referral of the energy markets to the Competition and Markets Authority.

Fuel Poverty

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the number of households who will receive assistance under (a) affordable warmth, (b) carbon savings community and (c) carbon saving target in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17;
	(2)  what estimate his Department has made of the number of measures to be installed under (a) affordable warmth, (b) carbon savings community and (c) carbon saving target in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17;
	(3)  what estimate his Department has made of expenditure under (a) affordable warmth, (b) carbon savings community and (c) carbon saving target in (i) 2014-15, (ii) 2015-16 and (iii) 2016-17.

Gregory Barker: The Department's latest assessment of the impact of the three energy company obligation (ECO) targets on the number of households supported, energy company spending and number of measures installed is set out in the 5 March ‘The Future of the Energy Company Obligation’:
	Assessment of Impacts:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286926/The_Future_of_the_Energy_ Company_Obligation_Assessment_of_Impacts.pdf
	The Department will be publishing a final assessment of the impact of the ECO policy to accompany the forthcoming response to the Government's consultation on the Future of the Energy Company Obligation.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 1247, on energy efficiency, what the evidential basis is for the statement that Green Deal assessments are stimulating action on energy efficiency.

Gregory Barker: DECC research has consistently shown that around four fifths of households that had a Green Deal assessment have installed, were in the process or intended to install at least one measure. Research published in March 2014, showed that 22% of households that had an installation after a Green Deal assessment were not thinking about installing that measure before they had an assessment. For those households that installed solid wall insulation, 70% of them were not thinking about installing it before they had a Green Deal assessment.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the number of households that have paid for a Green Deal assessment to date.

Gregory Barker: Previous DECC research has shown that around one in 10 households that have had a Green Deal assessment paid, at least in part, for it. However the latest DECC research, published in June 2014, showed that 14% of households paid, at least in part, towards an assessment. This research was carried out with households that had an assessment between 1 January and 30 March 2014 and shows that the number of households paying for an assessment increased.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department has spent on free Green Deal assessments for households to date.

Gregory Barker: £100 cashback is available for households that have a Green Deal assessment and install a measure via the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund route, however the scheme only recently launched and it is too early to give a figure on spend. Local authorities offered free Green Deal assessments from Green Deal Pioneer Places Fund and DECC estimates that 9,543 free assessments were funded through it. The Pioneer Places Fund of £10 million was allocated to local authorities and/or consortia of local authorities in England to demonstrate ambitious approaches to kick starting local Green Deal activity in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors. As well as funding Green Deal assessments, activities that were supported by DECC funding included: piloting local marketing approaches, including a street by street approach to roll out, establishing a network of local Green Deal show homes, area wide events to publicise the Green Deal, working with local partners such as the local NHS to drive demand for the Green Deal and working with community and other civil society groups to deliver demand for the Green Deal.

Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the average annual saving to a household's energy bill from a (a) condensing gas boiler, (b) cavity wall insulation, (c) loft insulation, (d) solid wall insulation and (e) other forms of insulation.

Gregory Barker: The saving on energy bills from installing heating and insulation measures will depend on several factors including the particular measure, energy prices and household characteristics that affect their energy consumption.
	DECC has estimated that households can save from around £25 to £270 or more per installation per year from installing the main insulation measures. This is based on estimated energy savings from an illustrative three bedroom semi-detached house. Further information on illustrative bill savings for different measures can be found in table 49 of the 2012 Final Green Deal and ECO IA:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/42984/5533-final-stage-impact-assessment-for-the-green-deal-a.pdf

Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consumer research his Department has commissioned on (a) the Green Deal and (b) the Energy Company Obligation since 2013.

Gregory Barker: As part of our evaluation of Green Deal and ECO we have commissioned a range of consumer research, covering research into the customer journey including people’s views, attitudes and experiences of the Green Deal and ECO journeys, the experience of arranging assessments, actions and intentions after receipt of a Green Deal Advice Report and general public awareness of Green Deal. DECC has published the various outputs of this research on its website and will continue to do so in line with the Government Social Research publication guidance.

Nuclear Power: China

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will publish all documentation relating to the nuclear power investment signed with the Prime Minister of China covering Chinese state companies on 17 June 2014; and if he will publish all subsequent documentation.

Michael Fallon: On 17 June 2014, the UK and China signed the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation. DECC was also a co-signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain. Both documents are online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change

Renewable Energy: Heating

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer of 3 February 2014, Official Report, columns 133-34W, on renewable energy: heating, when he expects to publish the data on the effect on electricity bills in households using heat pumps.

Gregory Barker: In January this year, we published a preliminary report on the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) heat pump metering programme. This is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/276612/Preliminary_Report_on_the_ RHPP_metering_programme_2014-01-31.pdf
	This report presents data from more than 400 heat pumps installed in domestic properties on a trial basis.

Wind Power

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been paid in constraint payments to wind reproducers in each of the last three years.

Michael Fallon: Constraint payments relating to England, Scotland and Wales are made by National Grid through competitive market arrangements in order to help ensure the secure operation of the electricity system. National Grid has advised that details of most individual constraint payments to wind farms are published at:
	www.elexon.co.uk
	and
	www.bmreports.com
	and aggregated data on payments to wind farms is published in its “Monthly Balancing Services Summary”, which is available at:
	www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Industry-information/Electricity-transmission-operational-data/Report-explorer/Services-Reports/
	Energy policy in Northern Ireland is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment Northern Ireland has advised that constraint payments are a commercial matter between the Single Electricity Market Operator (SEMO) and the generator.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Subsidies

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if he will estimate the effect on farmers in England of capping direct payments to farmers and initiating a 15% reduction on payments over £150,000 and a complete cap at payments of £300,000;
	(2)  what alternative proposals on the capping of payments to farmers in England were considered beyond the five per cent reduction for basic payments above £150,000.

George Eustice: We put forward proposals for reductions of direct payments to farmers as part of our wider consultation on CAP reform in October 2013. The consultation included estimates for the amounts which would be transferred annually to Rural Development programmes arising from reductions of 5% and 100% (i.e. capping), further analysis was included in the evidence paper published alongside the consultation. These can both be found at:
	https://consult.defra.gov.uk/agricultural-policy/cap-consultation
	We announced in December that reductions would be applied at 5% on amounts in excess of €150,000; however, we no longer take the view, contained in our response to the consultation, that we have no power to make further or alternative reductions at a higher threshold such as €300,000.

Animal Welfare: Circuses

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many times each circus licensed under the Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 was inspected in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014; and how many animals of each species each circus is currently licensed to hold.

George Eustice: The Welfare of Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (England) Regulations 2012 came into force in January 2013. Only two circuses have been licensed under the Regulations: Circus Mondao and Jolly’s Circus. During 2013 there were three inspections by a DEFRA appointed inspector of Circus Mondao and four inspections by a DEFRA appointed inspector of Jolly’s Circus. So far during 2014 there has been one such inspection of Circus Mondao and two such inspections of Jolly’s Circus. Further such inspections are planned during 2014. Currently, Circus Mondao is licensed to use: two camels, two reindeer and a zebra. Jolly’s Circus is licensed to use: an ankoli, a camel, a fox, two lions, a racoon, four reindeer, three snakes, three tigers and two zebra.

Environment Protection: Seas and Oceans

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to implement the recommendations in the Global Ocean Commission's report, From Decline to Recovery: A Rescue Package for the Global Ocean.

George Eustice: The UK Government is already playing a key role in tackling a number of issues raised in this report. For example, we are already pressing for an agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, in ensuring implementation of UN Resolution 61/105 on sustainable fisheries, and in promoting action to combat illegal fishing. We are also working with partner countries in OSPAR on a range of environmental measures in the north-east Atlantic including a regional action plan to address marine litter.

Flood Control: Lancashire

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to Lancaster city council's Local Plan for Lancaster District 2011-2031: Strategic Options for Land Allocations, what assessment his Department has made of the drainage and flood prevention measures that would be required in respect of the 5,000 new homes in the rural area of the Lune Valley that would be required under Option 5 of that plan.

Dan Rogerson: We have not made any specific assessment as the drafting of a Local Plan is a matter for the local council.
	Planning guidance is clear that infrastructure requirements must be considered by councils when making plans.

Food Supply Networks Review

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department's response is to the recommendations of the Elliott Review into the Integrity and Assurance of Food Supply Networks.

George Eustice: We are considering Professor Elliott's interim report recommendations. We will respond to his final report, which is due to be published shortly.

Food: Fraud

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials in his Department are currently working on food authenticity.

George Eustice: Currently, 13 DEFRA officials work wholly or partly on aspects of food authenticity. This includes work on food composition and standards, food labelling and related science, including development of methodologies for detecting food authenticity. DEFRA works closely with the Food Standards Agency which has responsibility for surveillance and enforcement policy.

Gamekeepers

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many people have become gamekeepers in each of the last three years; and what the age group and gender is of all registered gamekeepers;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to encourage more people to become gamekeepers.

George Eustice: DEFRA does not hold information on employment figures for gamekeepers. There is no requirement for gamekeepers or employers of gamekeepers to report this information to DEFRA.
	It is for landowners and gamekeeping organisations to encourage more people to become gamekeepers. However, DEFRA invests in a range of rural skills and jobs through initiatives under the Rural Development Programme for England.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Dan Rogerson: This response covers Core DEFRA, Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD).
	DEFRA and its agencies allow the following organisations to collect subscriptions through its payroll services:
	AXA Sun Life (FERA only)
	Benenden Healthcare Society
	Birmingham Hosp Saturday Fund (AHVLA and RPA only)
	Charitable Giving
	Charity for Civil Servants
	Civil Service Benevolent Fund
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Pension Scheme (inc stakeholder)
	Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
	Civil Service Sports Council
	Commercial Union Life Assurance
	Customs and Excise Sports Club (core DEFRA only)
	Customs Fund Insurance (core DEFRA only)
	Cyclescheme (FERA only)
	DEFRA Lottery
	Department of Environment Recreational Association (core DEFRA only)
	Dimensions Fitness
	Fideliti
	First Division Association
	Forester Health Plan Scheme
	General, Municipal and Boilermakers (AHVLA only)
	Give As You Earn (RPA and CEFAS only)
	Halfords
	HAS Crown Plan and Individual (RPA only)
	Hospital Savings Association
	Land Registry Sports and Social (VMD only)
	Leeds Hospital Fund (AHVLA only)
	Medicash Health Scheme (CEFAS and RPA only)
	Minerva Sports and Social (VMD only)
	Prospect
	Public and Commercial Services Union
	Simply Health (core DEFRA and FERA only)
	Sodexo (FERA only)
	Sovereign Health Care (core DEFRA and FERA only)
	SSA Lottery (CEFAS only)
	Sun Life Assurance Company
	Welsh Hospitals (AHVLA only)
	Welsh Office Sports and Social Association (core DEFRA only)

Policy

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what explicit monetary value his Department assigns to the value of preventing a fatality calculation during the process of policy appraisal and evaluation.

Dan Rogerson: The Department uses the methodology most appropriate to the policy question-for example, whether the policy reduces the risk of a sudden loss of life or whether the policy increases life expectancy.
	Air quality affects people’s health and their life expectancy, this is reflected in policy appraisal with a ‘lost life years’ methodology employing a value of £29,000 per year of lost life (in 2004 prices). This figure was informed by a 2004 DEFRA report entitled Valuation of Health Benefits Associated with Reduction in Air Pollution available here
	http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/air/airquality/publications/healthbenefits/airpollution_reduction.pdf
	The 2004 study did not directly give the £29,000 figure but was instrumental in its adoption.
	Alternatively, appraisal of policy that prevents sudden loss of life, such as those relating to flood risk, is supported by published DEFRA guidance on risk to life of flooding which we provide a copy of. This guidance refers to the Green Book which includes a value of preventing fatality of about £1.145million (in 2000 prices). This estimate is not appropriate in all situations but represents a readily available value of changes in risks of fatalities.
	The methodology used by the Department is likely to evolve over time as new evidence is developed.
	Documents provided:
	Defra, May 2008. Supplementary Note to Operating Authorities, Assessing and Valuing the Risk to Life from Flooding for use in Appraisal of Risk Management Measures.

Valuation of Life and Health Inter-departmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what monetary thresholds were applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year quoted in the evidence submitted as part of the Department's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008;
	(2)  what monetary thresholds were applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year quoted in the evidence submitted as part of the Environment Agency's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

Dan Rogerson: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given on 1 July 2014, Official Report, columns 533-34W.
	The focus of the work of the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health has been methodological rather than upon specific measures of value. It has focused upon the appropriate units for the measurement of impacts on life and health risks in different circumstances, and the methodology to be applied to valuation of those units in different contexts. Nevertheless, as a spur to the methodological investigation, an initial survey of monetary valuations of various units of impact by different Departments and agencies including case studies was undertaken. This was conducted by the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds and compiled into a "Survey of the Value of Life/ Health used in Government Departments", which has been placed in the Library. In addition, HSE and DFT have already placed in the Library their members' responses to the ITS survey.

Valuation of Life and Health Inter-departmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of the Environment Agency's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008;
	(2)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of his Department's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review.

Dan Rogerson: The focus of the work of the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health has been methodological rather than upon specific measures of value.
	The value of life and health measures submitted by the Department through discussions at the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review referred to DEFRA's guidance on valuing risk to life from Flooding and the “lost life years” estimate associated with reductions in air pollution.
	A copy of the published DEFRA guidance has been placed in the House Library.
	The Environment Agency evidence to the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review was submitted in March 2008. It did not include any measures of the value of life and health. It did refer to DEFRA guidance on valuing risk to life, which was under preparation at the time of the review and published in May 2008.
	A copy of the Environment Agency submission to the Review has been placed in the House Library.
	Documents provided:
	Environment Agency, March 2008, response to the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health Survey.
	Defra, May 2008. Supplementary Note to Operating Authorities, Assessing and Valuing the Risk to Life from Flooding for use in Appraisal of Risk Management Measures.

Water Charges

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what guidance he has produced on how his Department, OFWAT and water companies should monitor and assess affordability for consumers when carrying out their functions;
	(2)  if he will publish all work undertaken by his Department to (a) define what is affordable for consumers to pay to the water industry and (b) assess whether charges made by the water industry to consumers are affordable;
	(3)  what work his Department has done to assess the long-term effect of investment and pricing decisions made by (a) his Department, (b) OFWAT and (c) water companies on affordability for consumers; and if he will publish all such work.

Dan Rogerson: As the independent economic regulator for the water sector, it is OFWAT’s duty to review water prices every five years. This includes assessing the investment and pricing proposals included in water company business plans before setting limits on what companies can charge their customers. Most company business plans are proposing flat or declining customer bills from 2015.
	OFWAT has a rolling programme of activity to keep under review issues relating to affordability and it publishes analysis in this area. OFWAT is guided in its work by DEFRA’s Strategic Policy Statement, published in May 2013, which sets out the policy framework within which the water regulator must operate and it identifies tackling affordability pressures as a key priority. OFWAT is required to monitor the action taken by water companies to help customers who struggle to afford their bills and report on this to the Secretary of State annually.
	The Government has published guidance to water companies on the introduction of social tariffs, to assist them in providing support to customers at risk of affordability problems. The Government encourages water companies to introduce social tariffs to help vulnerable customers, taking account of local circumstances, needs and views.
	DEFRA is currently working with OFWAT and the Environment Agency to assess the long-term affordability of water bills. This work will incorporate the outcomes of OFWAT’s current review of water prices, which concludes in December 2014, and will report in 2015.

Wildlife: Imports

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department gives UK nationals on purchasing or acquiring (a) abalone, (b) coral, (c) conch, (d) shark fin, (e) sea turtle meat or shells, (f) bushmeat, (g) ivory and (h) rhino horn when overseas.

George Eustice: The trade in endangered animal and plant species, and their import and export, is controlled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES).
	Guidance on the provisions of CITES are published on GOV.UK at:
	www.gov.uk/cites-controls-import-and-export-of-protected-species

Wind Power: Birds

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the Government's policy is on protecting migratory birds from the effects of offshore wind turbines; and if he will make a statement.

George Eustice: The EU Wild Birds Directive provides a strong framework for the protection of birds in Europe. This includes migratory species, both on land and at sea.
	The developers of major infrastructure projects such as offshore wind farms are required to assess their impacts on the environment, including birdlife, and mitigate or compensate for impacts that cannot be avoided. The results of these assessments are considered by the relevant decision makers in determining applications for development consent for such projects in accordance with their legal obligations.

JUSTICE

Community Rehabilitation Companies

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when community rehabilitation companies are planned to begin providing post-release supervision to offenders serving sentences of under 12 months in prison.

Jeremy Wright: We are opening up delivery of probation services to a diverse range of new organisations in order to tackle repeat reoffending which blights our communities. As part of our reforms, we will extend post-release supervision to offenders released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months. We plan to commence the relevant provisions of the Offender Rehabilitation Act 2014 at the point when ownership of the new Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) transfers to successful bidders. We will do this in line with the Government's commitment to roll out these important reforms by 2015.

Courts: Children

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the NSPCC's Order in Court Campaign seeking changes to the way the criminal justice system treats children.

Damian Green: This question was previously raised under reference number 202662 for answer on Wednesday 2 July 2014. A response has therefore been provided under Hansard reference 670W.

Driving: Licensing

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance he gives to the courts on the disqualification of drivers who have accumulated over 12 points on their driving licence.

Jeremy Wright: The vast majority of drivers who get 12 or more penalty points are fined and disqualified from driving. Under Section 35 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, disqualification for a minimum of six months must be ordered if an offender incurs 12 penalty points or more within a three-year period, unless the court finds that the period of the totting up disqualification should be reduced or avoided for exceptional hardship or other mitigating circumstances.The minimum period may be automatically increased if the offender has been disqualified within the preceding three years.
	The Secretary of State for Justice does not issue guidance to courts on the exercise of this discretion. The Sentencing Council, which operates independently of Government, issues guidelines to the courts on sentencing; their “Magistrates Courts Sentencing Guidelines” deal with totting up disqualification. These Guidelines state that:
	“The period of a totting up disqualification can be reduced or avoided for exceptional hardship or other mitigating circumstances. No account is to be taken of hardship that is not exceptional hardship or circumstances alleged to make the offence not serious. Any circumstances taken in account in the preceding three years to reduce or avoid a totting disqualification must be disregarded.”
	It is made clear in the Guidelines that magistrates should consult their legal advisor for further guidance on exceptional hardship applications.
	The Government is committed to ensuring that penalties reflect the seriousness and culpability of offending behaviour and wants to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep our roads safe. This is why we have brought forward Government amendments in the Courts and Criminal Justice Bill specifically to deal with disqualified drivers who cause death or serious injury: to increase the maximum penalty for disqualified drivers who cause death, from two to 10 years’ imprisonment; and introducing a new offence of causing serious injury by driving while disqualified, with a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.
	We have also announced our intention to launch a full review of driving offences and penalties, to ensure people who endanger lives and public safety are properly punished.

Educational Testing Service

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what current contracts (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies hold with the Educational Testing Service or any of that organisation's subsidiaries.

Shailesh Vara: There are no current contracts held with the Educational Testing Service or any of that organisation's subsidiaries, by the Department, and each of his Department's Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies.

Fraud

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people were convicted for providing courts with false information on means forms in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

Damian Green: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) rightly has a zero tolerance approach to fraud and works in partnership with the law enforcement agencies to support prosecution where appropriate. According to internal management information there were six convictions for fraud against the Agency in 2011-12, one in 2012-13 and one in 2013-14.

Homicide

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for legal aid were made in cases relating to homicide in each of the last three years; and how many of those applications were successful.

Shailesh Vara: The Legal Aid Agency does not record on its IT systems whether applications for civil legal aid were made in cases relating to homicide. There is no legal or business requirement for the agency to record this information. In the consideration of civil legal aid eligibility, the agency assesses a person’s overall financial circumstances.
	The Legal Aid Agency’s IT systems that is used to record applications for criminal legal aid does not record an offence type of ‘homicide’.

Homicide: Victim Support Schemes

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which peer support groups were included in the successful bid by Victim Support to deliver the National Homicide Service from 1 October 2014; and what value of grant has been awarded to each such organisation.

Damian Green: Peer support groups that were included within Victim Support's successful bid to operate the new National Homicide Service from 1 October 2014 were Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse, Child Bereavement UK, and The Jimmy Mizen Foundation (Families United).
	The Ministry of Justice has awarded a grant to Victim Support in order to deliver a range of support based on need including peer support and advocacy. It is for Victim Support, in discussion with the peer support and other organisations they will be working with to deliver the service, to develop the operational detail of how the different components of the new service deploy to best meet needs, consistent with the grant agreement and delivering the best outcomes for families bereaved by homicide. Victim Support is currently in negotiations with groups to establish the details and value of their contributions within the grant, and this will be closely monitored by the Ministry of Justice.

Jimmy Savile

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will revise his decision to redact documents relating to Jimmy Savile in the PREM 19/878 file in the National Archives.

Simon Hughes: The majority of the information in the file has been disclosed. An application for closed information in the file is currently subject to a pending appeal in the First-tier tribunal. Therefore the Government cannot comment further in these circumstances.

Legal Aid Scheme

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the residence test for civil legal aid with article 16 of the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons.

Shailesh Vara: We believe that in principle, individuals should have a strong connection to the UK in order to benefit from the civil legal aid scheme. We therefore intend to introduce a residence test for civil legal aid requiring applicants to be lawfully resident in the UK, Crown dependencies or British overseas territories at the time they apply for civil legal aid and have resided there lawfully for at least 12 continuous months in the past.
	We are satisfied that the residence test is fully compatible with our domestic and international legal obligations, including the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons.

Legal Aid Scheme

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people resident in (a) Coventry, (b) the west midlands and (c) England received an award of legal aid in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not record the number of people who receive legal aid. Instead it records the number of ‘acts of assistance’. One individual may receive a number of separate acts of assistance, and one act of assistance can help more than one person.
	With regard to the breakdowns requested for Coventry, the west midlands and England, the LAA cannot separately identify legal aid cases by the location of the person receiving legal aid. Applicant postcodes are not systematically recorded against legal aid cases.

Legal Aid Scheme

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the savings from a residence test for claimants of legal aid.

Shailesh Vara: The Government does not currently record the residency status of applicants for civil legal aid so cannot accurately estimate the amount of funding currently received by those who would not satisfy the residence test. However, there is likely to be a reduction in legal aid volumes and expenditure from imposing a residence test on civil legal aid, resulting in savings to the legal aid fund.
	We have been clear that the introduction of the residence test supports the principle that legal aid should only be available to those who have a strong connection to this country. This is fair to the taxpayer who pays for it and will help to restore credibility to our legal aid system.

Mediation

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps the Government is taking to reverse the fall in take-up of family mediation for separating and divorcing couples.

Simon Hughes: We have changed the law to require people to consider mediation before applying to the Family Court. This will encourage people to resolve their issues through mediation rather than court, where appropriate.
	We are delivering a wide-ranging programme of activity to improve public awareness about family mediation and to make sure that advice agencies are providing the right information about it. This includes being very clear that legal aid is still available for mediation and for legal support for mediation.
	I have taken the opportunity to engage directly with mediation and legal practitioners about the issues facing them at the moment. I have hosted a webchat for people to come forward and offer ideas to encourage people to use family mediation and launched an online tool called Dialogue where people can post their ideas.
	I have hosted two roundtable meetings to discuss increasing the take-up of family mediation with key figures in the mediation profession. The ideas from these events were considered by the Family Mediation Task Force, which was chaired by David Norgrove. The ‘Report of the Family Mediation Task Force’ has been published on the mediation Dialogue webpage at:
	http://bit.ly/1o7roWW
	The report makes recommendations about increasing the uptake of family mediation. The Government will respond in due course.

New Roads and Street Works Act 1991

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been in relation to offences under section 57 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.

Jeremy Wright: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara), on 1 July 2014, Official Report, column 561W.

Prison Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people are currently employed in prisons to calculate the release date of prisoners.

Jeremy Wright: The number of staff employed in prisons specifically for the purpose of calculating release dates for prisoners is not held on central systems. To obtain the information would involve collecting data from every establishment, which would entail disproportionate cost.

Prison Service

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the ratio of prison officers to prisoners was in (a) HM Prison Swansea, (b) HM Prison Lincoln, (c) HM Prison Preston, (d) HM Prison Leicester, (e) HM Prison Exeter, (f) HM Prison Wandsworth, (g) HM Prison Kennet, (h) HM Prison Bedford, (i) HM Prison Cardiff and (j) HM Prison Doncaster in each year between 2010 and 2013.

Jeremy Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan), on 4 March 2014, Official Report, column 805W.

Prisoners: Domestic Violence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 28 February 2014, Official Report, column 548W, on prisoners: females, what programmes and interventions are provided to male victims of domestic violence in prison; in which men's prisons such programmes and interventions are available; how much central Government funding has been made available to such programmes and interventions in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15; which domestic violence programmes and interventions will be delivered in which prisons in 2014-15.

Jeremy Wright: Offenders' needs are assessed using OASys and the outcome informs the sentence plan, which helps to determine the appropriate establishment (within the correct security category).
	All prisoners who have been victims of domestic violence, rape, or abuse have access, as required, to appropriate support throughout custody as part of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) core rehabilitative offer. This service provision is articulated in the NOMS Rehabilitation Services (Custody) Specification.
	In particular, for offenders with personality disorder who are being treated in therapeutic communities, emerging signs of domestic violence victimhood will be addressed as part of these treatments.
	As part of our Transforming Rehabilitation reforms, all prisoners will receive a resettlement service from Community Rehabilitation Companies; the resettlement service will include specialist services to meet the needs of victims of domestic abuse.
	A number of prisons also provide counselling services for prisoners.
	
		
			 Name of Intervention Prison Intervention Aim 
			 Counselling Support HMP Onley Safe Line-Counselling for Prisoners who have been sexually abused or raped, and those with an underlying issue that causes them anxiety-improving psychological and emotional wellbeing and functioning. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Stocken Individual counselling sessions (maximum 8) to address issues such as mild anxiety and depression, child abuse and other forms of abuse, coping deficits and bereavement. 
			 Domestic Violence - Sexual & Domestic Abuse Counselling HMYOI Thorn Cross Counselling Support for victims of sexual and domestic abuse - Support services for sex workers/victims of domestic abuse and sexual abuse. 
			 Sexual Abuse Counselling HMP Leyhill Kinergy provides confidential emotional support, available at any time, to those who may have suffered sexual abuse. 
			 Sexual Abuse Counselling HMP Kirklevington Grange JIGSAW Support Network for the Sexually Abused - Counselling for those who have been sexually abused. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Lowdham Grange Provision of appropriate support for those assessed as suitable. Referrals must be made through staff and highlight specific needs. 
			 Counselling Support HMP The Verne Citadel Counselling-Counselling Service, two certificated counsellors. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Springhill Person-centred Counselling one-to-one To support men in examining personal issues. Run by volunteers. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Winchester To help prisoners cope with personal difficulties and make appropriate decisions for their future lives. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Mount (The) To give men the facility to address issues in a one-to-one context. These may be personal (eg bereavement) or offending (eg guilt linked with their crime). 
			 Counselling Support HMP/YOI Forest Bank To improve emotional wellbeing in a secure and confidential setting and to assist prisoners in being able to achieve a more fulfilling lifestyle. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Risley Aims to provide counselling and to help prisoners understand themselves better, providing them with support and guidance should they choose to make any difficult decisions or changes in their lives. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Manchester To provide a full range of counselling services. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Rye Hill To give one-to-one counselling to offender to assist them in dealing with their problems. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Whatton To work with a counsellor to identify ways prisoners can increase their ability to cope with depression, anxiety, panic disorder, stress management, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessional compulsive disorder, relationship work self-esteem raising, phobia etc. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Stocken Individual counselling sessions (maximum 8) to address issues such as mild anxiety and depression, child abuse and other forms of abuse, coping deficits and bereavement for example. 
			 Counselling Support HMP Springhill Confidential counselling service to help clients gain insight and understanding into their problems. 
			 Counselling Support HMPYOI Feltham Hounslow Youth Counselling Service (HYCS)-Counselling to provide confidential one-to -one counselling to prisoners. 
		
	
	There are 13 Therapeutic Communities within four male prisons (HMPs Dovegate, Gartree, Grendon and Warren Hill) which address the interpersonal problems, attitudes, thinking and emotions of offenders and aim to engage in treatment those who also have additional emotional and psychological needs. These services are trauma-focused and are designed to respond to abuse where it is relevant to individuals.
	There are also specialist personality disorder services at HMP Whitemoor and HMP Frankland (since 2005-06), and new treatment services opening at HMPs Garth and Swaleside this financial year 2014-15. These new services are part of a wider personality disorder pathway approach which is being implemented with support from the NHS at a number of prisons.
	It is not possible to identify separately the costs associated with these specific interventions and treatments as they are often integrated into the wider cost structure of the therapeutic community and personality disorder services and also with the wider costs of operating prisons.

Prisoners: Per Capita Costs

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the marginal cost was of one extra prisoner being accommodated in each prison in England and Wales when each prison is functioning at its operational capacity in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not have information on the marginal cost of a prisoner for each prison. The calculation of a marginal cost would normally apply where a permanent change to a prison’s operational capacity is taking place.
	Prisons are not expected to operate above their operational capacity and ensuring that this capacity is set to reflect the provision of safe and decent accommodation and the operation of suitable regimes ensures that levels of crowding in prisons are carefully managed.
	Sensible measures have been taken to ensure that we have sufficient capacity to deal with any temporary increases in population. These include creating additional places in prisons in a safe and decent way and ensuring that prisons reflect the needs of the current population. Any short-term increases in capacity will only be those sites where additional prisoners can be safely and decently accommodated and where a senior prison manager has certified that the additional prisoners will be held in safe, secure and decent accommodation.
	We will end this Parliament with more adult male prison places than we inherited, more hours of work in prisons than we inherited, more education for young detainees than we inherited and a more modern, cost-effective prison estate than we inherited.

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what was the average number of assaults on prison staff recorded in prisons in England and Wales was in each year from 2010 to 2013.

Jeremy Wright: NOMS takes the issue of assaults very seriously. It currently has systems in place to deal with perpetrators quickly and robustly, with serious incidents referred to the police for prosecution. It is working closely with the police and CPS to develop a new joint protocol to report crimes in prison-this includes pushing for prosecutions when prison staff are attacked.
	The number of assaults on staff in prison custody is published in Table 4 of the Safety in Custody Statistics bulletin which can be found at
	http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/safety-in-custody-statistics

Prisons: Offensive Weapons

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many incidents were recorded of knives or other weapons being confiscated by staff in each prison in England and Wales in each year between 2011 and 2013;
	(2)  how many inmates in each prison in England and Wales have been found in possession of knives or other weapons in each year between 2011 and 2013.

Jeremy Wright: Prisons deploy a comprehensive range of robust searching and security techniques to detect, deter and disrupt the supply of unauthorised items, including weapons, both at the point of entry to the prison or concealed within the prison.
	The number of incidents recorded of knives or other weapons being confiscated by staff, and how many prisoners have been found in possession of knives or other weapons, in each prison in England and Wales in each year between 2011 and 2013 is recorded on a central incident reporting system, but not in a discrete category. In order to establish the number of recorded confiscations or possessions for the period in question would require the interrogation of over 30,000 individual electronic incident files. This could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Sexual Offences

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what training prison officers receive to enable them to detect incidents of sexual assault inside prison.

Jeremy Wright: During their initial training prison officers learn how to identify and respond to a prisoner exhibiting signs of distress or a change in their normal behaviour. Prison staff also receive training in assessing and managing offenders' risk of harm, including the risk of harm from others.
	Officers receive training about prevention of violence in prisons and to complement this, specific training about sexual violence will be included in the revised Prison Officer Entry Level Training (POELT) course which will be introduced from January 2015.

Roads: Accidents

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many coroners’ inquests have been held into the death of a child below the age of four as a result of being a passenger in a road traffic accident in each of the last five years; in how many of those cases the inquest found that a faulty child’s car seat was a contributory factor; and in how many of those cases the inquest found that an incorrectly fitted child’s car seat was a contributory factor.

Simon Hughes: The Ministry of Justice collects data from coroners for the annual Coroners Statistics bulletin, which is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coroners-statistics-2013
	The statistical information is collected in summary form, which does not include data at the level of detail requested.
	Coroners are independent judicial office holders, appointed by a local authority within the coroner area, and are not employed by the Ministry of Justice.
	To provide the information requested would require the Ministry of Justice to ask coroners in England and Wales to examine their records for over 5,000 inquests to extract the information and provide a summary report to the centre. As such, this information is available only at disproportionate cost.

Sexual Offences: Greater Manchester

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many offences with code (a) 21, (b) 22, (c) 23, (d) 71, (e) 72, (f) 73, (g) 74, (h) 17Z, (i) 17B, (j) 19C, (k) 19D, (l) 19E, (m) 19H, (o) 20A, (p) 20B, (q) 22B and (r) 88A under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 were brought to trial in Greater Manchester in each year since 2008; how many of these resulted in convictions under each category; and what the conviction rate was in Greater Manchester in that period.

Jeremy Wright: The Government takes very seriously all matters relating to the sexual abuse of children and adults. Our laws in these areas are rightly robust and clear.
	The Sexual Offences Act 2003 provides tough measures to deal with these truly abhorrent crimes. We have also already introduced automatic life sentences for a second serious sexual or violent offence, and we have announced plans to end automatic early release for child rapists, terrorists and all dangerous offenders.
	The number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty at all courts in Greater Manchester police force area, for selected sexual offences from 2008 to 2013 (latest data available) together with the conviction ratio can be viewed in table 1 and table 2.
	
		
			 Table 1: Defendants proceeded against at magistrates court in Greater Manchester police force area, for selected sexual offences, 2008 to 20131, 2 
			 Offence code Offence description 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 17b Sexual Assault on a Male Child under 13 7 13 7 11 9 4 
			 17a Sexual Assault on a Male 11 8 13 8 15 12 
			 19d Rape of a Female Child under 16 63 48 66 76 43 70 
			 19c Rape of a Female aged 16 and over 93 110 105 112 136 115 
			 19e Rape of a Female Child under 13 10 27 40 18 20 29 
			 19h Rape of a Male Child under 13 2 16 7 5 1 4 
			 20a Sexual Assault on a Female aged 13 and over 112 121 173 188 172 152 
			 20b Sexual Assault on a Female Child under 13 34 85 82 72 72 89 
			 21 Sexual Activity involving a Child under 13 17 20 26 25 32 33 
			 223 Causing or inciting Sexual Activity 14 15 10 25 7 21 
			 22b4 Sexual Activity involving a Child under 16 27 44 47 42 49 52 
			 23 Incest or Familial Sexual Offences 7 4 7 9 5 9 
			 71 Abuse of Children through Prostitution and Pornography 4 3 3 3 1 9 
			 72 Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation 9 5 5— 1 0  
			 73 Abuse of Position of Trust of a Sexual Nature 1 1 1 0 0 2 
			 74 Gross Indecency with Children 8 5— 5— 0 5 3 
			 88a Sexual Grooming 4 5 10 6 6 7 
			 Total  423 525 597 601 573 611 
			 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 Includes the following sections under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sections 4, 10, 11, 12 4 Includes the following sections under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sections 9 5 Nil Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Offenders found guilty at all courts in Greater Manchester police force area, for selected sexual offences, 2008 to 20131, 2 
			 Offence code Offence description 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 17b Sexual Assault on a Male Child under 13 4 6 5 9 7 7 
			 17a Sexual Assault on a Male 7 6 6 6 4 4 
			 19d Rape of a Female Child under 16 21 27 16 34 24 18 
			 19c Rape of a Female aged 16 and over 38 36 33 38 42 41 
			 19e Rape of a Female Child under 13 7 8 16 12 14 13 
			 19h Rape of a Male Child under 13 5 3 10 1 1 1 
			 20a Sexual Assault on a Female aged 13 and over 47 58 77 101 105 90 
		
	
	
		
			 20b Sexual Assault on a Female Child under 13 28 15 33 20 33 34 
			 21 Sexual Activity involving a Child under 13 15 4 16 17 14 8 
			 22 (3) Causing or inciting Sexual Activity 8 9 10 12 20 8 
			 22b (4) Sexual Activity involving a Child under 16 34 36 44 36 45 41 
			 23 Incest or Familial Sexual Offences 4 7 3 7 4 4 
			 71 Abuse of Children through Prostitution and Pornography 1 5 2 3 1 7 
			 72 Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation 5 7 5— 1 1  
			 73 Abuse of Position of Trust of a Sexual Nature 1 5—  2  1 
			 74 Gross Indecency with Children 6 2 11 4 3 5 
			 88a Sexual Grooming 4 1 10 4 6 9 
			         
			  Total 235 230 292 307 324 291 
			         
			  Conviction ratio 55.5 43.8 48.9 51.0 56.5 47.6 
			 1 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 Includes the following sections under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sections 4, 10, 11, 12 4 Includes the following sections under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, sections 9 5 Nil Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice

Wills

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the Decision Notice of 14 May 2013 on the extension of the reserved legal activities, 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to educate consumers on (a) the different types of providers, (b) their respective protections and (c) options for redress;
	(2)  what new guidance he has issued on will writing for the legal profession;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with the will writing industry on strengthening existing regulation of authorised persons in this area.

Shailesh Vara: In the Lord Chancellor’s Decision Notice of 14 May 2013, as well as confirming that he had decided not to make will writing a reserved legal activity, he indicated that further efforts should be made to see if alternatives to regulation could be made more effective in improving standards in relation to will writing.
	Since then, the Legal Services Board (LSB) has taken a number of steps, with the intention of encouraging and supporting measures to improve standards, in both the regulated and unregulated legal service sectors.
	In relation to the regulated sector, the LSB has written to the approved regulators, to encourage them to take steps to address concerns about the quality of will writing by authorised persons. In May 2014, the Solicitors Regulation Authority issued guidance for solicitors on will writing.
	In relation to the unregulated sector, the LSB convened a roundtable with industry stakeholders, including leading will writing trade bodies, in January 2014, to explore ways to improve the coverage and effectiveness of voluntary schemes and codes. At this roundtable, the LSB and stakeholders also discussed how to improve consumer information, to better educate consumers about the differences between regulated and unregulated will providers, and related protections and redress routes.

Witnesses: Children

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2014, Official Report, column 580W, on evidence in court, for what reason HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) does not hold data on the number of child witnesses summoned to give evidence in court; and if he will request HMCTS to do so in future.

Damian Green: HMCTS uses information about witnesses in criminal cases to ensure that individual trials are managed effectively. It has not been necessary to collate or retain this information after a trial has been completed. HMCTS is reviewing how it may capture this data in future.

Youth Custody

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how he will enforce his lights out policy for young offenders currently accommodated in adult prisons.

Jeremy Wright: There are currently no offenders under 18 years old being accommodated in adult prisons.

Youth Custody

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what time will be set in his lights out policy for young offenders; and what evidence was used to select that time.

Jeremy Wright: We are committed to reforming the youth secure estate. That includes improving the existing regime, within existing establishments, alongside our plans for Secure Colleges. Introducing a latest bedtime of 10.30pm in public Under 18 Young Offenders Institutions is a sensible measure to ensure young people have a routine that will enable them to engage effectively in the regime.
	In developing this standardised bedtime for young people in under 18 Young Offender Institutions, we have undertaken consultation with a number of staff in those Under 18 YOIs to ensure that this measure will assist in providing young people with structure and consistency.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Bahrain

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what representations he has received about the imprisonment of the Bahrain 13;
	(2)  what reports he has received about the reasons for the imprisonment of the Bahrain 13;
	(3)  if he will raise with his Bahraini counterpart the release of the Bahrain 13.

Hugh Robertson: The Government welcomed the decision to review these cases in a civilian court and the drop all charges relating to freedom of expression in 2012, but we understand that other serious charges against the individuals remain. At the time that these individuals were originally convicted, reports acknowledged by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry suggested that some defendants had been abused in detention, denied access to legal counsel and coerced into confessing. We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to meet all its human rights obligations and guarantee its citizens the fundamental liberties to which they are entitled.

British Overseas Territories

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the governance of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

Mark Simmonds: Governance is continuously monitored by the FCO through frequent dialogue with the Governor, administrators, senior island government officials, NGOs and others. FCO and DfID officials also periodically visit the islands to inform their assessments. The FCO and Governor also meet a variety of stakeholders from all the islands to listen to their views.

British Overseas Territories

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received expressing concern about the governance of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

Mark Simmonds: Individual complaints or allegations may be raised from time to time, relating to governance issues. Whenever such representations are received, they are taken very seriously, are properly investigated and dealt with as necessary.
	The annual Joint Ministerial Council hosted in London by the FCO is also a forum for elected representatives from the islands to raise any concerns about governance with UK Ministers.

British Overseas Territories

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make an assessment of the implementation of the Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 and of the efficacy of that Order in securing democratic representation and human rights in that territory.

Mark Simmonds: The St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Constitution Order 2009 is functioning well, serving as a sound foundation for the development of democratic process and providing comprehensive terms for the protection of human rights. Well run general elections were held in St Helena and Ascension Island in 2013. On Tristan da Cunha, also in 2013, a new Island Council was formed. There were eight candidates nominated for the eight seats so an election was not necessary. Three councillors were also appointed, in keeping with the Constitution.

British Overseas Territories

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make an assessment of recent trends in (a) the cost of living and (b) living standards in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.

Mark Simmonds: Managing the cost of living and living standards is largely a matter for the locally elected government with HMG providing support as may be appropriate.
	As St Helena moves towards the opening of its airport, the island has seen a number of positive developments. Incomes have increased significantly over the last two years and unemployment is low. Ascension Island's special status means that those living there must be employed. The standard of living is good with satisfactory education and health services. Employees receive a competitive housing, salary and allowances package. Although Tristan da Cunha is not in receipt of budgetary aid, HMG provides support in training, health, education and infrastructure to help improve living standards.

Bulgaria

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on recent difficulties facing Bulgarian banks.

David Lidington: Government Ministers have not had discussions with other EU member states on the recent events involving some Bulgarian banks. We understand that the Bulgarian authorities are conducting internal investigations on the activity of one bank.

Burma

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has raised the jailing of journalist Zaw Pe with the Government of Burma.

Hugo Swire: Our ambassador has discussed the case of Zaw Pe, and those of other arrested journalists, with the Burmese Deputy Minister of Information Ye Htut, raising our concerns and encouraging the Government to ensure a safe environment for journalists to conduct their work. The cases of Zaw Pe and many other individuals were also raised during the first EU-Burma Human Rights Dialogue in May.

Burma

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what projects his Department is supporting to promote free media in Burma.

Hugo Swire: On 7 May, the British ambassador hosted a reception for members of the Burmese media to mark World Press Freedom Day. He welcomed widening freedom for media to operate in the country in the past few years, but expressed our serious concerns over the detention of several journalists in recent months.
	The UK also funds several projects to support the development and professionalisation of the media in Burma. For example, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is funding a project that promotes responsible media coverage of religious freedom and conflict. Through the Department for International Development we provide a global grant to BBC Media Action that supports work in Burma, such as training for local journalists and the launch of new programmes featuring opposition voices and the views of ordinary Burmese people. Through the British Council, we have funded workshops for photographers and filmmakers, and supported weekly radio broadcasts reaching millions of listeners across the country.
	Through the EU, the UK also funds two projects providing training and capacity building for members of the Burmese media, especially those reporting on the peace process and democratic reforms. Supported activities include roundtable discussions between media, government and civil society; training of young journalists; courses in investigative reporting; and training for civil society organisations.

Burma

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of recent trends in the level of use of forced labour in Chin state, Burma.

Hugo Swire: The Burmese Government has taken welcome steps towards the elimination of forced labour, as noted in the Resolution adopted at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. However, we recognise that forced labour continues to be a problem in Chin State and elsewhere in Burma. We urge the Government to continue its co-operation with the UN and International Labour Organisation to ensure this practice is eliminated once and for all.

Burma

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the imprisonment of ethnic Rohingya people for getting married.

Hugo Swire: We have not received any specific reports of Rohingya people being imprisoned for getting married. However, we remain deeply concerned about the situation of the Rohingya, including in relation to discriminatory marriage practices reported in Rakhine State.
	The British Government is one of the most vocal and active members of the international community in supporting those calling for human rights and democracy in Burma. We will continue to urge the Burmese Government to take action to protect the lives and rights of Rohingya, and to address the underlying causes of ethnic and religious discrimination and violence.

Central African Republic

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 201W, on the Central African Republic, how much funding the UK will allocate to the deployment of the team of experts to the Central African Republic to investigate sexual violence abuses; how many specialists will be deployed from the UK; when the team of experts will be deployed; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Simmonds: The UK is providing £279,000 to the African Union (AU) to support the deployment of a multidisciplinary team of African experts, including medical doctors, psychologists, lawyers and police officers. The programme will be managed by the AU Mission in the Central African Republic, MISCA, through Medecins D’Afrique, a Pan-African NGO with expertise in emergency response. The programme is designed to build African capacity to tackle conflict-related sexual violence, and the UK is not providing any experts as part of the deployment. The team will track and report on allegations of sexual violence, for further action by the AU Commission and African Governments. We expect the team to deploy shortly.

Counter-terrorism

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 256W, on counter-terrorism, which activities have ceased as a result of the reduction in the Counter-Terrorism Prevention Fund budget.

William Hague: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not release details of specific activities funded by the Counter-Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF) for operational and security reasons.

Counter-terrorism

Douglas Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 256W, on counter-terrorism, by how much the Counter-Terrorism Prevention Fund has been reduced over what period.

William Hague: The Counter Terrorism Programme Fund (CTPF) budget has been:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2010-11 38 
			 2011-12 38 
			 2012-13 36 
			 2013-14 30 
		
	
	This reflects the redirection of Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) resources and the shift of some programmes to other Government Departments. The CTPF is only one element of the FCO’s resources for countering terrorism. It is complemented by other budgets used for counter-terrorism related activities and the tri-departmental (FCO, Department for International Development and Ministry of Defence) Conflict Pool (ref WMS of 24 June). The FCO Strategic Programme Fund Allocation for 2014-15 will be announced shortly.

Gibraltar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to ensure that businesses choosing to operate in Gibraltar are able to do so as easily as possible.

David Lidington: Business and economic matters are within the constitutional competence of HM Government of Gibraltar. Gibraltar provides a professional infrastructure that is compliant with European standards of regulation. The numerous international businesses already based in Gibraltar are testament to this.

Gibraltar

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar in relation to a change in law enabling British citizens to become Gibraltarians after 10 years of residence in Gibraltar.

David Lidington: Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar has introduced a Bill to amend the Gibraltarian Status Act lowering the qualifying period for registration from 25 years to 10 years. This is an area within the constitutional competence of Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar and I have had no discussions with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar about the change.

Gibraltar: Spain

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information his Department holds on the current official position of the UN on Spain's claim to Gibraltar; and what steps he is taking to secure condemnation by the UN of Spain's behaviour in relation to Gibraltar.

David Lidington: Gibraltar is discussed in the UN’s Fourth Committee and Special Committee on Decolonisation. The most recent Fourth Committee decision on Gibraltar urges the Governments of Spain and the United Kingdom to reach a solution in light of all preceding resolutions, while listening to the interests and aspirations of Gibraltar that are legitimate under international law.
	The United Kingdom robustly defends its sovereignty over Gibraltar at the UN through rights of reply in the various UN fora in which Spain raises the issue. The Government will also continue to ensure the views of Gibraltarians are heard at the United Nations, and the realities of Spain’s actions are widely understood.

Iraq

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to assist the government of Iraq in tackling the threat posed by Isis.

Hugh Robertson: We support the Iraqi Government in its fight against terrorism. We are taking action in three areas: promoting political unity among those who support a democratic Iraqi state and regional stability, offering assistance where appropriate, and alleviating humanitarian suffering.
	Tackling the threat from foreign extremists currently operating as part of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is a priority.
	We have pledged £5 million in direct support to Iraq. This includes funding for food and basic shelter to those affected by the crisis, clean water and sanitation, essential medicine, hygiene kits and basic household items, and protection for vulnerable girls and women through the deployment of dedicated UN safety and welfare teams in key internally displaced person/refugee camp sites and areas.

Lesotho

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the current political situation in Lesotho.

Mark Simmonds: Through our high commission in South Africa, who cover our relations with Lesotho, we are closely monitoring the political situation in the country following the decision on 10 June by Lesotho's Prime Minister to prorogue parliament for nine months (until 27 February 2015). The UK supports the South African Development Community's (SADC) call for all parties to follow the constitution.

Nigeria

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what support his Department has offered to the Nigerian authorities in tackling the threat of Boko Haram.

Mark Simmonds: The UK is playing a leading role in helping Nigeria to tackle the terrorist threat from Boko Haram and related group Ansaru, working closely both with the Nigerian authorities and international partners the UK proscribed Boko Haram in July 2013.
	Following the abduction in April of the Chibok schoolgirls the Prime Minister offered a package of support including: tactical advice and training for the military to help counter terrorism ; military air surveillance capacity and intelligence support to help try to locate the girls ; £1 million towards the UN Safe Schools initiative. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), hosted a ministerial meeting on security in Nigeria on 12 June in London. The meeting delivered agreements from Nigeria, neighbouring countries and international partners on improved security, intelligence cooperation, and commitment both to coordination of development working the region and to empowerment and education of women.
	We are also working with Nigeria on a range of judicial and security projects to improve military capacity, policing, access to justice and prosecution of terrorists. All UK counter terrorism work is subject to the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) process.

North Korea

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Government will bring the conclusions relating to the genocidal extermination of Christianity in the report commissioned by Human Liberty entitled crimes against humanity published in May 2014 to the attention of the UN Security Council, the North Korean Government and HM Embassy in Pyongyang.

Hugo Swire: We are aware of the report produced by Hogan Lovells on behalf of Human Liberty. However, we note that the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) were unable to establish the crime of genocide on religious grounds, because the available evidence in this respect was ambiguous.
	However, the COI did find that systematic and widespread human rights violations were taking place, and did find reasonable grounds to establish that crimes against humanity had been committed in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The findings of the COI formed the basis of the core text of the subsequent UN Human Rights Council resolution on the DPRK, adopted in March 2014, which the UK cosponsored.
	In April, the same month, the UK took part in a public 'Arria-formula' briefing with other Security Council member states to consider DPRK human rights. In May, the UK raised DPRK human rights concerns during closed consultations between the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Security Council. In June, I visited Geneva, where I took part in an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK, Mr Mazuki Darusman. I raised the importance of DPRK human rights with the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and stressed the importance of UN action. The next step will be to ensure there is an appropriate focus on DPRK human rights at this autumn's UN General Assembly (UNGA) session and that there is a strong DPRK resolution, strongly supported, in the UNGA Third Committee.

North Korea

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government supports recommendation 1224 of the UN Human Rights Council's Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), published in February 2014; and whether his Department has taken steps to support the work of human rights non-governmental organisations in their attempts to broadcast accessible information into the DPRK and to improve the human rights situation in that country.

Hugo Swire: The UK does not currently provide financial support to any of the organisations making cross-border broadcasts into the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea (DPRK). Through our embassy in Pyongyang however, the UK is one of the few countries who are able to engage directly with North Koreans, complementing the efforts of others, like the US, who support broadcasts into North Korea. The recent report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights in North Korea recognised the importance of both approaches.
	The UK continues to play an active role in raising human rights violations in the DPRK in other meaningful ways. For example, we pressed for a strong DPRK resolution at the March UN Human Rights Council, including a call for the UN General Assembly to submit the report of the Commission of Inquiry to the UN Security Council for its consideration and appropriate action. In April, we and other Security Council members took part in a public "Arria" briefing by the Commission and in May, we raised the need for a continued focus on human rights during a UN Security Council Sanctions Committee. Recently, I visited Geneva, where I took part in an Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK, Mr Mazuki Darusman. I raised the importance of DPRK human rights with the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and stressed the importance of UN action. The next step will be to ensure there is an appropriate focus on DPRK human rights at this autumn's UN General Assembly session and that there is a strong DPRK resolution, strongly supported, in the UNGA Third Committee.

Nuclear Weapons

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proposals the UK has put to the Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council (P5) on collective participation in the Conference on the Humanitarian Effects of Nuclear Weapons being hosted in Vienna in December 2014 by the Austrian government; and what discussions were held within the P5 on participation in the predecessor conferences held in Norway and Mexico.

Hugh Robertson: The UK has not put any proposals to the Permanent Five (P5) members on attendance at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Effects of Nuclear Weapons. The UK, US, France, Russia and China exchanged views on attendance ahead of both of the previous humanitarian consequences conferences.
	The P5 dialogue (initiated by the UK in 2009), provides a valuable opportunity for the P5 to exchange views on a range of nuclear disarmament issues, and is an essential step to building trust and confidence among the nuclear weapons states, as part of a step by step approach to disarmament.

Pakistan

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to assist the Government of Pakistan in tackling the threat posed by the Taliban.

Hugh Robertson: Pakistan is on the front line of the global fight against terrorism, including against groups such as the Pakistan Taliban. It remains one of our priority countries for counter-terrorism work. A major part of this effort is dedicated to working with Pakistanis to reduce the threat from violent extremism and to build their capacity to deal with it. This requires a determined security response, but also investment in education, tackling poverty, and confronting the extremist narrative.
	Alongside this we have pledged further assistance, including UK strategic expertise, capacity development to improve detection and disruption of improvised explosive devices, support with developing effective approaches to countering violent extremism and infrastructure security. Our approach is supported by intensive diplomatic work, bilaterally, multilaterally, and in concert with key partners such as the European Union and the United States.

Palestinians

Nadhim Zahawi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the motivation of Hamas in kidnapping three Israeli teenagers on 12 June 2014. [R]

Hugh Robertson: We have made no assessment on this issue. We are encouraging Israel to continue to work with the Palestinian Authority in order to find the perpetrators. We will look very closely at any information about who is responsible.

Palestinians

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department took to help secure the release of Eyal Yifrah, Gilad Sha'ar and Naftali Frankel, who were abducted in the West Bank on 12 June 2014.

Hugh Robertson: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office offered practical support to the Israeli authorities to help find the kidnapped teenagers.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Hugh Robertson: The following organisations collect subscriptions through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office payroll service:
	Friends Life Service
	British Health Care Association Services Ltd
	The Benenden Healthcare Society
	The Charity For Civil Servants
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Healthcare Society Ltd
	Civil Service Sports Council
	The Hospital Saturday Fund
	Engage Mutual Assurance
	Simplyhealth
	Public and Commercial Service Union
	Post Office Insurance Society Assurance Ltd
	Prospect Union.

Saudi Arabia

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government is taking to improve the situation of Christian people in Saudi Arabia who face difficulties as a result of publicly practising their faith.

Hugh Robertson: We have made clear to the Saudi authorities our strong support for the right to freedom of religion or belief. The Senior Minister of State, my noble Friend the right hon. Baroness Warsi raised the importance of religious tolerance in meetings with Governor and Mayor of Makkah, Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques, and the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in February 2014.

Syria

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the UK contribution to establishing democracy in Syria.

Hugh Robertson: The lack of democratic freedoms in Syria is at the root of the current crisis. The recent elections held by the Assad regime were a parody of democracy, taking place against the backdrop of horrendous violence, and with many millions of Syrians disenfranchised.
	Since its formation in October 2012, we have provided the National Coalition with practical and political support designed to help it become ever more credible and inclusive and to promote democracy inside Syria. We have also worked with grass-roots civil society groups and local councils in Syria to promote good governance at a local level. Our work with the moderate opposition is now more vital than ever as they face a dual threat from the Assad regime and terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who want to destroy democracy in the region and replace it with an Islamic state.

Ukraine

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Ukrainian counterpart on immediate threats to Ukraine from Russia.

David Lidington: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), met with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Pavlo Klimkin, at the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 23 June. During the meeting Mr Klimkin presented President Poroshenko’s peace plan, and asked for a clear EU message of support. Mr Klimkin stressed that the peace process should be inclusive, and reflected on the risk that, if the current situation were prolonged, illegal groups would destabilise the situation further.
	In the Conclusions of the meeting, the EU reiterated its strong support for Ukraine's unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and called upon Russia to do likewise, to repudiate the latest lawless acts in Eastern Ukraine and to contribute to stabilize the situation. The EU called on all parties to exercise restraint and commended the Ukrainian authorities for pursuing their law and order operations in a measured manner. The EU also encouraged the Government in Kyiv to contribute further to reducing tensions.
	The Foreign Secretary also spoke to Mr Klimkin on 3 July to reiterate UK support in the face of continuing Russian aggression.

World War I: Anniversaries

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans his Department has to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First Battle of the Marne between 5 and 12 September 2014.

Mark Simmonds: The Battle of the Marne is not part of the UK national programme for the First World War Centenary commemorations. We are in regular contact with the French Government regarding centenary commemorations, and will be guided by their plans to commemorate the Battle of the Marne, supporting them as appropriate.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Corruption: Tanzania

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Attorney-General what reports he has received of bribery of foreign officials in Tanzania by African Barrack Gold plc; and whether the SFO plans to investigate those reports.

Dominic Grieve: As and when matters are brought to the attention of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) they are assessed in the context of the SFO's remit to investigate fraud, bribery and corruption. If appropriate, relevant matters will be considered for criminal investigation in line with SFO internal procedures. The SFO does not comment on its assessments or their status at any one time but does publish on its website details of those cases formally adopted for criminal investigation, whenever this is possible without prejudice to the investigation.

Wonga

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what discussions have taken place between the Financial Conduct Authority and the Serious Fraud Office on the recent finding by that regulator that Wonga sent letters to debtors from non-existent solicitors demanding payment.

Dominic Grieve: The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has no records of any discussion with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in regard to this matter.
	Press statements have been issued by both the FCA and the City of London Police concerning Wonga and their agreement to pay compensation.
	If the SFO is approached by any law enforcement or regulatory bodies then any relevant matters will be considered for criminal investigation in line with the SFO's remit to investigate fraud, bribery and corruption.

Wonga

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what consideration the Serious Fraud Office has given to investigating Wonga, for fraud by false representation under section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006.

Dominic Grieve: The Serious Fraud Office is aware that City of London Police are reviewing whether a criminal investigation is now appropriate.

Wonga

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General whether the Crown Prosecution Service has been contacted for investigative advice by any police force in England and Wales with regard to the possible criminal liability following the findings by the Financial Conduct Authority that Wonga has been threatening debtors with letters from fake law firms.

Dominic Grieve: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has not yet been approached for investigative advice, by any police force, in respect of possible criminal matters arising from the Financial Conduct Authority investigation of Wonga.
	Following the announcement that Wonga would pay £2.6 million in compensation, after sending letters from non-existent law firms to customers in arrears, the CPS Deputy Head of the Specialist Fraud Division contacted the City of London Police, on the 26 June 2014, to enquire whether this matter was being criminally investigated.
	City of London Police are the national police lead for serious fraud investigations. They are currently assessing whether the case merits a criminal investigation and have confirmed that they will refer any request for advice to the CPS Specialist Fraud Division.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Apprentices

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many apprenticeships his Department and its agencies employed in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and (e) 2014; and how many he expects to employ in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

Michael Penning: The number of apprentices employed in DWP for the years asked for is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 (a) 2010 0 
			 (b) 2011 109 
			 (c) 2012 243 
			 (d) 2013 273 
			 (e) 2014 316 
		
	
	The anticipated number of apprentices to be employed in DWP in the future years asked for is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 (i) 2015 330 
			 (ii) 2016 350

Attendance Allowance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff in his Department are working on claims for attendance allowance for older people; and how many staff were employed in each of the last 16 quarters.

Michael Penning: Please see the data in the following table which shows the number of staff processing all claims to attendance allowance over the periods requested.
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010-11  
			 Q1 769.19 
			 Q2 773.64 
			 Q3 733.37 
			 Q4 709.85 
			   
			 2011-12  
			 Q1 701.01 
			 Q2 665.40 
			 Q3 641.66 
			 Q4 619.08 
			   
			 2012-13  
			 Q1 598.92 
			 Q2 588.56 
			 Q3 578.18 
			 Q4 564.17 
			   
			 2013-14  
			 Q1 548.67 
			 Q2 536.25 
			 Q3 528.19 
			 Q4 508.31 
		
	
	The headcount figures are in full time equivalent form whereby part time staff are counted as a proportion of one full time staff member depending on the number of hours they work.

Children: Maintenance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 171W, on children: maintenance, on how many occasions where contingency measures had to be employed by the Department's Child Maintenance Group (CMG) to support the work of the Child Maintenance Options Service it was the case that call demands exceeded forecasted volumes; how many CMG staff were deployed on each such occasion; and in which office or offices of the CMG these trained contingency staff were located.

Steve Webb: Child Maintenance Group (CMG) staff, based at Barnsley, were used on three, limited duration, occasions (November 2013, January 2014 and February 2014) when call demand exceeded forecasted volumes.
	The number of CMG staff engaged in this activity, at any one time, varied between five and 20 colleagues for periods ranging from minutes to hours. Most of this activity took place in the CMG Barnsley office. Although, there was a short period, before telephony lines could be transferred, when CMG staff travelled to the Child Maintenance Options office.
	CMG staff have been used as contingency only where demand is above the agreed contracted level. This planned approach ensures value for money as we are not paying for long term resource where the forecast shows a short term increase in demand.

Children: Maintenance

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he will bring into force section 40 of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008.

Steve Webb: We are exploring bringing into force powers laid out in the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, providing for the disclosure of payment information to credit reference agencies. This would be subject to a public consultation before any regulations were laid in Parliament.

Children: Maintenance

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the written evidence from his Department to the Work and Pensions Committee of 20 October 2013 on child maintenance reform, when he will publish initial findings from the series of behaviour change trials undertaken by his Department to test different interventions aimed at addressing the barriers that prevent parents making regular payments of child maintenance.

Steve Webb: The series of behaviour trials completed later than expected, in May 2014. Now that the trials are completed, a full evaluation is underway. Once the evaluation has concluded, we will share the findings in accordance with the undertakings we gave to the Select Committee, in October 2013. We will incorporate any learning from the successful trials into our approach to tackle and prevent the build-up of arrears.

Children: Maintenance

Natascha Engel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether debt accrued by non-resident parents transfers automatically to the Child Maintenance Service for enforcement when the Child Support Agency is abolished.

Steve Webb: Our first priority is to collect money for children who will benefit from regular ongoing maintenance payments, rather than the pursuit of historic arrears in cases where the children have now grown up.
	However, where arrears of child maintenance are linked to an ongoing child maintenance case on the 2012 scheme, we will move arrears in those cases to the Child Maintenance Service and pursue them as appropriate alongside the ongoing maintenance case.
	In cases where the arrears are not linked to an ongoing 2012 case, and a parent with care does not request that their arrears are written off, we will transfer them to the Child Maintenance Service and pursue collection as resources allow.

Children: Poverty

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children in Yorkshire were in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty in 1997-98 and in each year since.

Esther McVey: Estimates of the number and proportion of children in relative and absolute low income are published in the National Statistics Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. This information is captured using the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The latest publication is available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/households-below-average-income-hbai-199495-to-201213
	Due to small sample sizes local poverty estimates for Yorkshire are not available as robust estimates cannot be produced. However, HBAI does provide three year average estimates of the number of children in relative and absolute low income in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Employment and Support Allowance

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost incurred by his Department was of appeals against employment and support allowance decisions in 2010 and in each year since.

Michael Penning: We have taken action to reduce the cost of appeals by reforming the DWP appeal process. Mandatory reconsideration, where we look again at individual decisions before it goes to a tribunal, alongside our wider reforms to streamline the system are designed to avoid the need for expensive appeals.
	We have seen a significant reduction in the volume of appeals. During the first quarter of this year appeals against ESA decisions decreased by almost 90%, compared to the same time last year. We expect that this will be reflected in a lower total cost incurred by this Department in 2014-15.
	The operating costs incurred by the Department for appeals against ESA decisions prior to 2014-15 are as follows:
	
		
			  ESA Appeals (£) 
			 2011-12 16,464,859 
			 2012-13 19,651,619 
			 2013-14 28,678,396 
		
	
	In addition to these costs the Department has paid the following amounts to HMCTS. These costs are for the number of appeals against ESA decisions that HMCTS have handled which are in excess of the volume for which they have been funded for in their baseline funding.
	
		
			  Total Costs payable to HMCTS (£) 
			 2011-12 26,157,701 
			 2012-13 29,291,646 
			 2013-14 41,179,738 
			 Note: Comparable data are not available prior to 2011-12.

Employment and Support Allowance

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people wait more than (a) three, (b) six, (c) nine and (d) 12 months to receive a tribunal appeal decision following an employment and support allowance decision; and what steps the Government is doing to speed up that process.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not readily available.
	As a consequence of the recent significant drop in appeals the Tribunal Service expects its clearance times to significantly decrease.

Employment and Support Allowance

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time is that people wait to receive employment and support allowance following a successful tribunal appeal.

Michael Penning: The information requested is not readily available.
	DWP action appeal disposals from HMCTS as a matter of urgency once received to ensure the customer is not disadvantaged.

Employment Schemes: Autism

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department has taken to help people with autism find appropriate work.

Michael Penning: The Government has contributed significantly to the development of the 'Rethink Autism' strategy, owned by the Department of Health.
	DWP is an active member of the Autism Programme Board and is working closely with colleagues from across government to address a number of key commitments that support the employment of people with autistic spectrum conditions including Asperger's syndrome and associated hidden impairment conditions.
	DWP is working with an extensive range of partner organisations and the Hidden Impairment National Group (HING), which the Minister has agreed to sponsor.

Employment: Depressive Illnesses

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of how many people are signed off work as a result of depression.

Michael Penning: The Department for Work and Pensions does not hold information on the number of people taking sickness absence from work as a result of depression.

European Social Fund: Cornwall

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made on Cornwall's additional European social funding.

Esther McVey: The Government has asked Local Enterprise Partnerships to work with local partners on a strategy for how the European Social Fund (2014-20) should be spent in their area. The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership has developed a comprehensive strategy, the themes of which the Government has incorporated into the draft operational programme which will be submitted to the European Commission this month to being the negotiating process.

Gas Masks

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 25 November 2013, Official Report, column 126W, on gas masks, what progress he has made on preventing the continued on-line sale of Second World War gas masks containing asbestos.

Michael Penning: HSE has concluded its sampling exercise with online sellers. A number of the different types of gas mask available were analysed and most found to contain asbestos. The placing on the market, supply and transport of almost all items containing asbestos, including gas masks, is prohibited by the EU Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (EU1907/2006) (REACH).
	HSE and Trading Standards are working with the platform, which hosted the purchases of the gas masks involved in the study, on a policy to prohibit the sale of items that fall under REACH.
	HSE will continue work on a case by case basis with Local Authority Trading Standards, who are responsible for enforcement relating to sale to consumers, to take robust action against those who break the law on asbestos and unnecessarily put themselves and others at risk.

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effects of the introduction of the under-occupancy penalty on (a) the total housing benefit bill, (b) overcrowding, (c) homelessness and (d) housing mobility.

Esther McVey: The information is as follows:
	(a) The housing benefit bill was expected to rise above £25 billion in 2014-15 (£15 billion for the social rented sector alone) prior to the introduction of the removal of the spare room subsidy.
	The Department estimated the policy would achieve savings of £490 million in 2013-14, £525 million in 2014-15 and £560 million in 2015-16.
	(b) to (d) The policy to remove the spare room subsidy introduces not only parity of treatment between the private and social rented sectors, but encourages more effective use of social housing stock. It has reduced the number of households who under-occupy their properties, which has freed up larger homes for those currently on the social housing waiting list who are living in overcrowded conditions. It also encourages social providers to take account of local needs and demographic trends when allocating properties and developing their building programmes. Levels of homelessness acceptances in England have reduced 7% in the last quarter compared to the same period in the previous year. This is 65% lower than the peak in 2003.
	The effects of the policy are being monitored and evaluated over a two-year period from April 2013. Initial findings will be published before recess and the final report in late 2015.

Jobcentre Plus: Wolverhampton

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what conclusions he has drawn from his small scale test bed at Wolverhampton Jobcentre for the Supervised Pilot Scheme.

Esther McVey: A supervised job-search test bed in Wolverhampton ran from December 2013 to February 2014. The purpose of the test bed was to examine on a small scale which areas would be viable design options for the Supervised Job-search pilots to be introduced later this year.
	In overall terms the success of the test bed confirmed that a protracted supervised job-search could be delivered with the long-term unemployed client group. As a result of what we learnt from Wolverhampton, we have incorporated several elements into the pilots design, including:
	induction sessions, to set clear expectations and assess individuals' abilities;
	basic IT training;
	integrating group sessions and one-to-one support to retain claimants concentration and engagement; and
	supporting participants to focus on tailored, quality job applications.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to publish Matthew Oakley's independent review of jobseeker's allowance sanctions.

Esther McVey: The report and the Government's response will be published in due course.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2014, Official Report, column 431W, on jobseeker’s allowance, how many jobseekers aged (a) between 18 and 21, (b) 22 and 24 and (c) 25 years and over were assessed for potential skills needs at the beginning of their claim to jobseeker’s allowance in the most recent year for which data is available; and how many jobseekers in each category were assessed as having a skills need.

Esther McVey: All jobseekers are assessed at the beginning of their claim to jobseeker’s allowance for potential skills needs that are a barrier to them finding work. Where a skills need is identified, claimants are referred to courses.
	This Government is committed to ensuring jobseekers have the skills they need to get into work. In 2012-13, 171,100 young people aged 19 to 24 and claiming benefit started a learning course, an increase of 30% over 2011-12.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Michael Penning: The following list shows a Treasury Approved list of organisations to which employees can pay subscriptions and premiums through voluntary deductions to their salary.
	The Department is unable to determine which of these are specifically subscriptions as per the question asked so for completeness this list details all potential voluntary deductions operated within the Department.
	Benenden Healthcare Society
	The following are covered under British Hospitals Contributory Association:
	Anglia Health
	Bolton and District
	BUPA Cash Plan
	Crewe Hospital
	Gwent Hospital
	Leicester & County
	Mercia Health
	Patients Aid
	Premier Health Benefits
	Provincial Hosp Service
	Simply Health
	Sovereign Health
	Transport Hosp Fund—Healthshield
	Wakefield Health Scheme
	Western Provident Asscociation.
	Birmingham Hospital Sat Fund
	Charity Trust
	Civil Service Benevolent Fund
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
	Civil Service Sports Council
	CSBF Recovery Of Loans
	Customs Annuity Ben Fund
	FDA
	Forester Health
	HASSRA
	HASSRA National Lottery
	Health Scheme
	Health Sure Group
	Hosp Savings Assoc Crown
	Hosp Savings Assoc Individual
	Hospital Saturday Fund
	Leeds Hospital Fund Ltd
	Merseyside Health
	Norwich Union
	PCS
	Post Office Insurance Soc
	Prospect
	Scottish Benevolent Fund
	Sun Life Assurance Society
	Transport and General Workers Union
	UK Civil Service Benefit Society
	Welsh Hosp and Health Servs Association
	Westfield Health Scheme Discretionary
	Westfield Health Scheme Fixed
	Give As You Earn G.A.Y.E.

Pensioners: Social Security Benefits

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to enable elderly people to claim their benefits manually without requiring an online application.

Steve Webb: The main benefits claimed by elderly people are state pension, pension credit, attendance allowance, carer's allowance and housing benefit. Claims for state pension can be made online, by telephone or by letter. Claims for pension credit can be made by telephone or by paper application.
	Claims for attendance allowance are made by paper application. For carer's allowance, claims can be made either online or through a paper application. Claims for housing benefit can be made by paper application and in certain circumstances by telephone. In addition, people over women's state pension age receive a winter fuel payment, which in most cases does not need to be claimed since the Department already holds the information necessary to make the payment.

Personal Independence Payment

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to demonstrate transparency and accountability with specific regard to the level of service provided to customers claiming personal independent payments.

Michael Penning: The Department has introduced a number of actions to ensure that our levels of service are transparent and claimants are aware of how long their PIP claim might take. Information about estimated journey times is included with the “How your disability affects you” form and by sending a text message acknowledging receipt of this form. We have updated the online information available to claimants and support organisations via gov.uk to include information regarding how long a claim might take.
	We are committed to regularly publishing details of the number of cases we process and the number of awards of PIP.

Personal Independence Payment

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the data on clearance time for personal independent payments are robust enough to be published; and what timescale he has set for implementing such steps.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when his Department will include data on clearance times of personal independence payment applications using normal and special rules claims in its quarterly statistical publication.

Michael Penning: Statistics on clearance times are intended for future publication but releasing them at this stage would give an incorrect representation of the process since the system has not yet reached maturity, and further quality assurance of the data is required. Departmental analysts are currently assessing the quality of this data to ensure it meets the standards set by the UK Statistics Authority before it can be published.
	In accordance with UK Statistics Authority guidelines, we will preannounce our intention to release these statistics, at least one month prior to their publication, on the UKSA hub and also on our PIP statistics webpage at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics

Personal Independence Payment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what specific steps the Department took to reduce the delays to personal independence payment (PIP) claimants using special rules; and when PIP claimants using normal rules will benefit from efforts to reduce waiting times.

Michael Penning: So far we have introduced:
	A dedicated phone service with specially trained staff;
	An electronic transfer of information between a claimant’s health professional, DWP and assessment providers.
	Trialling a new process to enable decisions to be made in-house with support from health care professionals
	Clearer guidance for DWP staff.
	We are absolutely committed to reducing the delays. By the autumn, we expect no one to be waiting for an assessment for longer than 26 weeks and by the end of the year, we expect no one will be waiting longer than 16 weeks.

Personal Independence Payment

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department’s target time is for people to receive an accurate decision for claiming the personal independence payment.

Michael Penning: There are no legal requirements to complete action on a claim to PIP within a specified time, but we continue to monitor how long the claimant journey is taking and implement measures to speed up the process.

Personal Independence Payment

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to better identify personal independence payment claimants who could be assessed solely on the basis of written evidence and without the need for face-to-face assessments.

Michael Penning: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) on 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 641W.

Personal Independence Payment

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment of the effects of the time taken to resolve claims for personal independence payments on claimants.

Michael Penning: We keep the time taken to process claims under constant review and are absolutely committed to improving performance. We are already seeing improvements to our processes and will continue to work to further reduce delays and backlogs.

Personal Independence Payment

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department took to reduce delays to personal independence payment (PIP) special rules claims; how long it took to resolve those delays; what steps he plans to take to reduce delays to PIP claims in the normal rules; and what estimate he has made of the time that will be taken to reduce those delays.

Michael Penning: As soon as I became aware of the length of time it was taking some Special Rules cases to be processed I took action to reduce the timescales and introduced:
	A dedicated phone service with specially trained staff;
	An electronic transfer of information between a claimant's health professional, DWP and assessment providers.
	a trial of a new process to enable decisions to be made in-house with support from health care professionals
	I am pleased to say that we are now seeing improvements to clearance times for claims from terminally ill people.
	We have acknowledged that claims under our normal rules are currently taking too long. We are absolutely committed to improving performance-ours and that of the assessment providers. We are already seeing improvements to our processes and will continue to work to further reduce delays and backlogs.
	By the autumn, we expect no one to be waiting for an assessment for longer than 26 weeks and by the end of the year, we expect no one will be waiting longer than 16 weeks.

Personal Independence Payment

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what forecast his Department has made of the length of time each part of the claims process for personal independence payment (PIP) up to provision of accurate and targeted assessments will take; and what guidance his Department uses for a reasonable amount of time for an individual to wait for an accurate targeted assessment for PIP.

Michael Penning: We keep the time taken to process claims under constant review and are absolutely committed to improving performance. We accept that the delays faced by some people are unacceptable, and we are committed to putting that right. By the autumn, we expect no one to be waiting for an assessment for longer than 26 weeks and by the end of the year, we expect no one will be waiting longer than 16 weeks.

Personal Independence Payment

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether disabled people who go into debt because of long delays in processing their personal independence payment claims will be able to receive assistance from the Government to help pay off the interest on their debts.

Michael Penning: Most claimants to personal independence payment (PIP) will already be receiving some element of financial support to meet day-to-day living expenses, for example through earnings or through receipt of income maintenance benefits such as employment and support allowance. No successful new claimant to PIP will lose out financially as claims will be backdated. Additionally, disability living allowance (DLA) claimants claiming PIP continue to receive their DLA while the PIP claim is being assessed.

Poverty

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of (a) children, (b) pensioners and (c) households fell below 60 per cent of contemporary median equivalised income (i) before and (ii) after housing costs in 2007-08 and in each year since.

Esther McVey: Estimates of the number and proportion of children, pensioners and households falling below 60% of contemporary median equivalised income are published in the National Statistics Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. This information is captured using the Family Resources Survey (FRS). The latest publication is available at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/households-below-average-income-hbai-199495-to-201213
	The number and proportion of children, pensioners and households falling below 60% of contemporary median equivalised income (i) before and (ii) after housing costs in 2007-08 to 2011-12 are available in the tables provided:
	
		
			 Number and percentage of households falling below 60% of contemporary median equivalised income, before housing costs and after housing costs, between 2007-08 and 2012-13 
			  Before housing costs After housing costs 
			  Number (million) Percentage Number (million) Percentage 
			 2007-08 4.9 19 5.7 22 
			 2008-09 4.8 19 5.6 22 
			 2009-10 4.7 18 5.7 22 
			 2010-11 4.5 17 5.5 21 
			 2011-12 4.5 17 5.6 21 
			 2012-13 4.5 17 5.6 21 
		
	
	
		
			 Number and percentage of children falling below 60% of contemporary median equivalised income, before housing costs and after housing costs, between 2007-08 and 2012-13 
			  Before housing costs After housing costs 
			  Number (million) Percentage Number (million) Percentage 
			 2007-08 2.9 23 4.1 32 
			 2008-09 2.8 22 3.9 30 
			 2009-10 2.6 20 3.9 30 
			 2010-11 2.3 18 3.6 27 
			 2011-12 2.3 18 3.6 27 
			 2012-13 2.3 17 3.7 27 
		
	
	
		
			 Number and percentage of pensioners falling below 60% of contemporary median equivalised income, before housing costs and after housing costs, between 2007-08 and 2012-13 
			  Before housing costs After housing costs 
			  Number (million) Percentage Number (million) Percentage 
			 2007-08 2.5 22 2.0 18 
			 2008-09 2.2 20 1.8 16 
			 2009-10 2.0 18 1.8 15 
			 2010-11 2.0 17 1.6 14 
			 2011-12 1.9 16 1.6 13 
			 2012-13 1.9 16 1.6 13

Procurement

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of his Department's contracts were awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises in (a) direct procurement spend and (b) indirect procurement spend in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013; and what the projected proportion is for (A) 2014, (B) 2015 and (C) 2016.

Michael Penning: Unfortunately, the information requested is not routinely collected by the Department and is therefore unavailable at this time.

Procurement

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how of his Department’s contracts were awarded to small and medium sized enterprises in (a) direct procurement spend and (b) indirect procurement spend in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011, (iii) 2012 and (iv) 2013; and what the projected number is for (A) 2014, (B) 2015 and (C) 2016.

Michael Penning: Unfortunately, the information requested is not routinely collected by the Department and is therefore unavailable at this time.

Schools: Asbestos

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to monitor the standards of asbestos management in schools (a) under and (b) outside of local authority control.

Michael Penning: The Health and Safety Executive continues to be a member of the Asbestos in Schools Steering Group which aim to promote the effective management of asbestos in both local authority and non-local authority controlled schools. The steering group has representatives from the joint Union Asbestos Committee, education trade unions, local authorities and independent schools.
	In June 2014, HSE published the results of its latest inspection survey into the management of asbestos in schools covering those outside local authority control. This survey showed improved levels of awareness and a decrease in the level of enforcement action required in comparison with a survey of the same sector in 2010-11. HSE also completed a similar inspection exercise in 2010 on local authority controlled schools.

Social Security Benefits

Pamela Nash: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what average time was taken between an application being made and benefit paid for (a) attendance allowance, (b) bereavement benefits, (c) carer's allowance, (d) disability living allowance, (e) employment and support allowance, (f) jobseeker's allowance, (g) maternity benefits, (h) housing benefit, (i) council tax benefit and (j) pension credit in (i) Airdrie and Shotts constituency, (ii) England, (iii) Scotland, (iv) Wales and (v) Northern Ireland in each of the last four years including the most recent period for which figures are available.

Michael Penning: The information regarding when a benefit is paid is not available as this can vary from each claim depending on circumstances, payment type and frequency of payment.

Social Security Benefits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many new claims were paid in April 2014 for (a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) employment and support allowance, (c) income support, (d) housing benefit and (e) universal credit.

Esther McVey: Information on how many new claims were paid in April 2014 for (a) jobseeker's allowance (JSA), (b) employment and support allowance (ESA), (c) income support (IS), (d) housing benefit (HB) and (e) universal credit (UC) is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
	Statistics on the number of JSA claimants who started a new claim in April 2014 can be found at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/
	Guidance for users can be found at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
	Statistics on the number of ESA and IS claimants who started a new claim, by the number of previous claims on this benefit, up to and including November 2013 can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance
	Statistics covering the period March 2014 to May 2014 are due to be published on 12 November 2014.
	Statistics on the number of universal credit (UC) claimants who started a new claim up to and including March 2014 can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
	Statistics for April 2014 are due to be published on 16 July 2014.

State Retirement Pensions

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people receive over-80 pensions; what estimate he has made of how many people are entitled to claim such pensions; and what steps he has taken to publicise such pensions to people who are entitled to them.

Steve Webb: The over-80 pension is also known as the Category D pension. The number of people in receipt of a Category D pension is published on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-statistics-tabulation-tool
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance
	A reliable estimate of how many people are entitled to claim this pension is not available.
	The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) makes information available in various locations (for example, our website at www.gov.uk and leaflets available from our DWP Information Line on 0845 7313233) to ensure that people are aware of the benefits to which they may be entitled and how to claim them. In addition DWP's National Partnerships Team works with over 4,400 customer representative organisations, both nationally and locally, to provide a wide range of advice and support for pensioners.

Unemployment Benefits

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reasons his Department does not distinguish between those in paid and those in unpaid work when assessing their eligibility for out-of-work benefits; if he will revise his Department's policy in this area; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: There are a number of working age benefits and each has slightly different rules. Working age benefits are usually affected by earnings and, depending which benefit is in payment, the amount payable may be affected. If work is unpaid because it is voluntary work, this would, in most cases, not affect the benefit award. If work is unpaid and it is not reasonable for it to be unpaid, the income related benefit rules allow an amount of notional earnings to be assumed.

Universal Credit

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will provide an estimate of how many people were in receipt of universal credit on 1 June 2014.

Esther McVey: The official universal credit statistics covering the period up to 31 May 2014 will be published on 13 August 2014.

Universal Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when the universal credit system will accept claims from those who are self-employed.

Esther McVey: We announced our plans for the implementation of universal credit on 5 December, and these were set out in a written ministerial statement. The WMS can be found here:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131205/wmstext/131205m0001.htm# 13120551000006
	Official statistics on universal credit were most recently published on 11 June and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-statistics-apr-2013-to-31-march-2014

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 282W, on universal credit, how much his Department spent on IT development and implementation for universal credit in 2013-14; and how much it expects to spend on such development and implementation in 2014-15.

Esther McVey: The Department spent £186 million on IT, development and implementation for universal credit in 2013-14, against the previously forecast £401 million.
	The forecast for 2014-15 is currently £316 million against the previous forecast of £317 million.
	This forecast is subject to change due to further refinements of requirements and on-going commercial discussions. Plans continue to be developed to support rollout of UC within budget.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what date he plans to publish the revised impact assessment for universal credit.

Esther McVey: The Government published a detailed impact assessment in December 2012 to accompany the laying of the universal credit regulations that came into force in April 2013. There are no current plans to publish an update.

Valuation of Life and Health Inter-departmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what monetary thresholds were applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year quoted in the evidence submitted as part of the Health and Safety Executive's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008;
	(2)  what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of the Health and Safety Executive's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

Michael Penning: I refer my right hon. Friend to the written answer I gave him on 2 July 2014, Official Report, column 643W.
	HSE does not apply cost-per-quality adjusted life year (QALY) thresholds. In the Regulatory Impact Assessment described in the evidence submitted by HSE to the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008, which is published in the Library, HSE used a value of £42,000 per QALY to estimate the benefits of the intervention. These were compared against the expected costs of the intervention in order to assess the potential net benefits to society.

Widowed Parent's Allowance

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants (a) received an overpayment of widowed parent's allowance and (b) were prosecuted for benefit fraud in respect of that allowance in each of the last five years.

Esther McVey: The following table represents the number of claimants in receipt of widowed parent’s allowance who received an overpayment and DWP recorded a prosecution outcome.
	
		
			 Claimants in receipt of Widowed Parents Allowance 
			 Fiscal year Number of claimants who received an overpayment (thousands) Number of cases with a prosecution outcome 
			 2009–10 1.42K 0 
			 2010–11 1.48K 4 
			 2011–12 2.01K 2 
			 2012–13 2.59K 1 
			 2013–14 2.61K 6

Work Capability Assessment

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken to process a mandatory reconsideration of a work capability assessment is; and what steps the Government is taking to support employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants whose work capability assessments are being reconsidered, but who are unable to claim ESA during the reconsideration or claim job seeker's allowance because they do not meet the entitlement criteria because they are too ill to seek work.

Michael Penning: The Department is collecting information to understand how the introduction of mandatory reconsideration is operating, including completion timescales. However, this data is not sufficiently robust and reliable to make available at this time.
	Departmental statisticians need to assure themselves of the quality of administrative data sources before releasing information as Official statistics, and before the exact timing and format of statistics can be confirmed.
	While it is correct to say that ESA cannot be claimed during the mandatory reconsideration stage, it is not correct to say that jobseeker's allowance (JSA) cannot be claimed. These claimants have been found fit for work and the benefit for them is JSA. To be entitled to JSA the conditions of entitlement, including the signing of a claimant commitment, must be satisfied. Where someone presents with health issues the conditions are modified and the claimant commitment drafted accordingly-disability advisers support claimants in this position and provide specialist advice.

Work Capability Assessment

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many decisions based on work capability assessments were overturned during the completion of the mandatory reconsideration period in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2012-13.

Michael Penning: The Department is collecting information to understand how the introduction of mandatory reconsideration (MR) is operating.
	However, this data is not sufficiently robust and reliable to make available at this time.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department gives on the weight to be given to areas of outstanding natural beauty when calculating housing need for the purpose of drawing up local plans; and if he will make a statement.

Nicholas Boles: Local Plans prepared by democratically accountable councils working with their local communities are based on objectively assessed housing needs. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty have the highest status of protection in national planning policy in relation to landscape and scenic beauty, but they also contain living communities. Local authorities through their Local Plans are best placed to ensure communities in these areas are able to thrive alongside providing strong protection for these nationally important landscapes.
	National planning policy sets out that Local Plans should meet objectively assessed needs, unless specific policies such as the protection of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty indicate development should be restricted. Our recently published planning guidance also addresses Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and can be found at
	http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/natural-environment/landscape/
	Local authorities are also under a legal duty to cooperate in seeking to meet development requirements which cannot be wholly met within their own areas.

Betting Shops: Planning Permission

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects his Department to publish a consultation document on withdrawing permitted development rights for bookmakers; and if he will make a statement.

Nicholas Boles: We will consult in due course.

Care Act 2014

Andrew McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential effect of the Care Act 2014 on local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: Ministers within the Department for Communities and Local Government regularly meet colleagues from other Departments to discuss a range of matters.
	The Government produced an Impact Assessment and New Burdens Assessment which were published alongside the Care Act 2014.
	We have worked collaboratively with a wide range of external partners, including representatives of local authorities, including the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services on the development of the Act and the accompanying draft regulations and guidance.

Homes and Communities Agency

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Homes and Communities Agency is required by its own objectives for the allocation of economic assets to consider (a) the highest financial bid only and (b) bids in conjunction with the degree of vision and strategic plans for the local economy when selecting a preferred bidder; and if he will make a statement with particular reference to the future of Hythe Marine Park in New Forest East.

Kris Hopkins: In keeping with Government policy, the Homes and Community Agency seeks to dispose of its assets to meet the objectives and targets as set out in its Corporate Plan but also to support local economic growth for local communities.
	In regard to Hythe Marine Park, the procurement process is still underway and bids are commercially sensitive. The site has been advertised on an open and competitive basis. Information about the bidder's vision for the site was requested by way of background.

Housing: Construction

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many housing starts there were in 2013-14; and what recent forecast he has made of the likely number of housing starts in 2014-15.

Kris Hopkins: Thanks to this Government's long-term economic plan, housing starts in England are at their highest since 2007 and new orders in residential construction have risen to their highest level since 2007.
	According to the NHBC, new home registrations rose by 30% in 2013 in England, the highest since 2007; and are up 60% in London, the highest for over two decades; this is in contrast to Wales which has a Labour Administration, where new home registrations are falling.
	More detailed statistics on house building starts can be found on my Department’s website, in live table 208:
	www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
	My Department does not publish forecasts or targets for overall house building.
	I am aware there have been recent media reports which have given a misleading impression on starts in 2014-15. I would note the following in response.
	We anticipate in 2014-15 that housing completions will continue to rise as will private sector housing starts. Our planning reforms are also helping increase housing supply by supporting conversions to housing from previous uses.
	We are conscious that there is a potential risk of a hiatus between the completion of our 2011-15 Affordable Housing Programme which is on course to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes and our 2015-18 Affordable Housing Programme which will deliver a further 165,000 new affordable homes (the fastest rate of affordable house building for 20 years).
	Hence, we are reviewing what practical steps can be taken to prevent this, such as bringing forward the affordable housing programme and accelerating starts on sites in other Government programmes. This common sense forward planning will help further support the new homes that our country needs.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many house purchases have been funded through the Help to Buy scheme in (a) Ribble Valley, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK.

Kris Hopkins: This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home. The number of families buying a home with the support of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, as of 31 May in the Ribble Valley borough council is 21; in Lancashire it is 512; and across England it is 22,831. The Department’s official statistics on sales, broken down by local authority and postcode sector for England is available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics
	The Department does not hold information on schemes operated by the other devolved Administrations.
	The Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is managed by HM Treasury and the data is available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-march-2014

Parish Councils

Nadhim Zahawi: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the accountability of parish councils and their administration of burial plots.

Brandon Lewis: There has been no such recent assessment of the accountability of parish councils and their administration of burial plots. The underlying statutory duties for local (burial) authorities are outlined in the Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977. The associated guidance is overseen by the Ministry for Justice and is available at:
	www.justice.govuk/downloads/burials-and-coroners/burial-ground-managers.pdf

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Brandon Lewis: The following organisations collect subscriptions through the Department's payroll service:
	Civil Service Club, SPARTA (Civil Service Sports and Recreation Association), Civil Service Retirement Fellowship, Civil Service Benevolent Fund, Civil Service Sports Council, Minerva Sport and Social, PCS Union, First Division Association, Prospect.
	Additionally, the following organisations collect subscriptions through The Planning Inspectorate and OEII's payroll service.
	QEII: Charity for Civil Servants, PCS Union.
	The Planning Inspectorate: SPARTA, NAW Welfare Fund, Civil Service Benevolent Fund, Civil Service Sports Council, PCS Union, Prospect.
	Currently, the Department offers a check off system where union subscriptions can be deducted from an individual's pay and transferred to the appropriate trade union. The Department believes it is no longer appropriate for public funds or resources to be used in this way. We will therefore seek to end these arrangements and have strongly encouraged Executive agencies to also pursue this objective.

Policy

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what explicit monetary value his Department assigns to the value of preventing a fatality calculation during the process of policy appraisal and evaluation.

Brandon Lewis: When carrying out an appraisal my Department follows the principles set out in the HM Treasury's Green Book: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. The Green Book includes guidance on how to value the prevention of fatalities and injuries. One of the approaches in the Green Book used by my Department is the Department for Transport's valuation of a fatality. The latest monetary value is publicly available on their website.

Valuation of Life and Health Inter-departmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of his Department's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

Brandon Lewis: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on 30 June 2014, Official Report, columns 412-13W.

TREASURY

Air Passenger Duty

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward legislative proposals to lower air passenger duty.

Nicky Morgan: Budget 2014 announced the reform of air passenger duty with the abolition of bands C and D from 1 April 2015. This will eliminate the two highest rates of air passenger duty charged on flights to countries over 4,000 miles from Britain, cutting tax for millions of passengers travelling to China, India, Brazil and many other emerging markets. This will also mean that flights to South Asia and the Caribbean will pay tax at the lower band B rate.

Consumers: Protection

Frank Doran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what consideration he has given to the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Durkin v DSG Retail Limited and another and its effect on existing consumer law.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government notes the judgment in which the Supreme Court upheld an individual’s right to rescind a contract of sale and a related credit agreement. The Government believes that existing consumer credit law adequately protects individuals in this regard.

Corporation Tax: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much corporation tax was raised by HM Treasury in Northern Ireland in the last full financial year.

David Gauke: The most recent available estimate of Corporation Tax receipts in respect of Northern Ireland relates to financial year 2012-13. This estimate was published by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in ‘A Disaggregation of HMRC Tax Receipts between England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland’. A link to the publication is provided as follows:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/285765/disagg-info.pdf
	For 2012-13 the estimated portion of onshore UK Corporation Tax receipts relating to Northern Ireland was £476 million. Estimates of offshore Corporation Tax receipts relating to Northern Ireland are available as produced by two methods: a geographic basis and a population based apportionment. The estimates for 2012-13 are nil and £137 million respectively.

Development Aid

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much Official Development Assistance was spent by each Government department in 2009-10 and in each year since (a) in cash terms, (b) at current prices and (c) as a proportion of Gross National Income.

Danny Alexander: Information on the amount of Official Development Assistance spent by each Government Department since 2009-10 is available publicly at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about/statistics

Dover Priory Station

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, column 225W, on Revenue and Customs, for what reasons HM Revenue and Customs has not made an assessment of the economic viability of the land on the western perimeter of the Priory Court site, in relation to the requirement of Network Rail for new parking facilities for Dover Priory railway station.

David Gauke: As explained in my previous reply which was answered on 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 394W, HM Revenue and Customs occupies its site adjacent to Dover Priory Station under a PFI contract. Commercial discussions are a matter for Mapeley, as land owner and other parties. HMRC may consider any reasonable proposals.

Financial Services: Taxation

Frank Dobson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what modelling (a) his Department and (b) the Office for Budget Responsibility has made of the financial effect of a tax levied on financial transactions.

David Gauke: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given on 11 March 2013, Official Report, column 38W.

Gold: Prices

Mark Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 29W, on gold: prices, and to the Financial Conduct Authority's decision to fine Barclays Bank for gold fix manipulation, 
	(1)  if he will make an assessment of the effect of (a) US regulatory authorities' interventions in the gold market and (b) such interventions on gold market-related securities in ISAs;
	(2)  with reference to the answer of 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 29W, on gold: prices, and the academic draft report of February 2014, by Professor Rosa Abrantes, Adviser to the EU and International Organisation of Securities Commission on Financial Benchmarks, entitled Gold Price Fix, and her reports of systemic manipulation of the twice daily gold fix over several years, (2) if he will make an assessment of the effect of (a) US regulatory authorities' interventions in the gold market and (b) such interventions on gold market-related securities in ISAs.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government monitors all aspects of the gold market. Although no specific assessment of US regulatory interventions has been made, the Government is committed to taking action, whenever necessary, to ensure the efficient functioning of these essential markets. In order to raise standards of conduct in the financial system the Government has launched a joint review by the Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority into the way wholesale financial markets operate, including commodity markets.

Income Tax

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in (a) the UK, (b) the Thames Valley and (c) Windsor constituency no longer pay income tax due to changes in the level of personal allowance introduced since 2010.

David Gauke: By April this year this Government's increases in the personal allowance (for those born after 5 April 1948) are estimated to have taken over 3 million individuals out of the income tax system altogether. 384,000 of these individuals live in the south east region, which includes the Thames Valley and the parliamentary constituency of Windsor.
	These estimates are based on the 2011-12 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2014-15 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.
	HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.

Individual Savings Accounts

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will amend treatment of ISAs in respect of spouse-to-spouse transfers after death of either person to bring such transactions into line with other spouse-to-spouse transactions.

David Gauke: ISAs are a personal tax relief: they are non-transferable accounts and the tax advantages they provide end upon the death of the account holder.
	As with other personal tax allowances and reliefs, the individual nature of ISAs reflects the general principle of individual taxation.
	The Government keeps all areas of the tax system under review.

Tax Avoidance: British Overseas Territories

Joan Walley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made in reducing levels of tax avoidance in the UK's Overseas Territories.

David Gauke: The UK Government is at the forefront of the global response to international aggressive tax planning and cross-border evasion, driving the international tax, transparency and trade agenda forward under the UK’s G8 presidency in 2013, and fully backing the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project.
	Under the Prime Minister’s leadership of the G8, the UK has led a global leap forward in international tax transparency, meaning there are fewer places to hide. We are imposing tough new sanctions for those who do not come forward under HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) offshore disclosure facilities. There will be serious consequences for those who continue to believe they can hide wealth offshore, when later on this year HMRC will consult on a new strict liability criminal offence that could mean jail for those who do not declare taxable offshore income. HMRC will also consult on tougher civil sanctions. In addition, last year the Government entered into a series of Intergovernmental Agreements with the overseas territories which will ensure that from September 2016 HMRC will receive details of UK residents who have bank accounts and other investments in the overseas territories.
	HMRC co-operates with tax authorities in other countries, in areas such as exchange of information and recovery of tax. Following the commitments made at the G8, all of the UK's Overseas Territories with financial centres and the Crown Dependencies have taken significant steps forward on tax transparency putting them at the forefront of this agenda globally. In addition to signing agreements with the UK for the automatic exchange of tax information, they have also agreed to be early adopters of the new global standard for automatic exchange of tax information, committing to an ambitious timetable of implementation as members of a group of 44 countries and jurisdictions.

Ukraine

Richard Burden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps are being taken in response to EU Council Regulation 692/2014 to (a) identify goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol and exclude them from entry into the UK and (b) ensure no individual or business based in the UK provides, directly or indirectly, financing, financial assistance or insurance or reinsurance related to the import of such goods from Crimea or Sevastopol.

David Gauke: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has set up customs risk profiles to target goods originating in Crimea or Sevastopol in response to EU Council Regulation 692/2014. The profiles are targeting Crimean postcodes. The risk profiles are being monitored and will be adjusted as circumstances require.
	As with all sanctions introduced by the EU, they have direct effect in the UK and apply directly to UK persons and companies. The Government will take steps to ensure these measures are effectively implemented and enforced.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Department approved the Universal Credit Strategic Outline Business Case.

Nicky Morgan: Universal credit will provide the right incentives for people to work, target support at those who need it most, reduce fraud and error, and streamline the administration of the welfare system. Up to 300,000 more people will be in work.
	The Treasury have approved funding for the Universal Credit programme in 2013-14 and 2014-15, in line with the ministerial announcement (5 December 2013, Official Report, column 65WS)—link to WMS:
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131205/wmstext/131205m0001.htm#column_65ws
	The roll out of universal credit continues in a progressive approach, with the live service expanding to couples and the north-west of England and then to families. The Government continues to roll out the service in a controlled manner in order to assess how claimants are responding, and to inform development of the enhanced digital solution.

Welfare Tax Credits

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what average value of tax credits were paid to claimants who were (a) out of work, (b) self-employed and (c) employed in each of the last 10 years.

Nicky Morgan: The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available are 2012-13.
	
		
			 £ 
			   Average tax credit award for households who are classified as 'in work' 
			 Tax Year Average tax credit award for households who are classified as 'out of work' Households who are classified as self employed only Households who are classified as employed only Households who are classified as both employed and self employed 
			 2007-08 4,300 5,800 2,800 3,300 
			 2008-09 4,700 6,500 3,300 3,700 
			 2009-10 5,000 6,800 3,700 4,000 
			 2010-11 5,200 6,900 3,900 4,100 
			 2011-12 5,600 7,200 4,500 4,800 
			 2012-13 6,000 7,600 6,300 6,400 
			 Notes: 1. These figures have been rounded to the nearest £100. 2. Data from earlier years is available only at disproportionate cost. 
		
	
	The increase in average tax credit awards in 2012-13 can largely be explained by the removal of the ‘Second Income Threshold’ in April 2012. This policy removed a number of higher income households from the tax credit population. As higher income households generally have lower tax credit awards, the effect of removing these households increases the average award.

Welfare Tax Credits

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many new claims were paid in April 2014 for (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit.

Nicky Morgan: Data relating to the volume of working tax credit and child tax credit awards is published bi-annually and can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/305891/cwtc-apr14.pdf
	There would be a disproportionate cost attached to providing the information for the specific month in question.

Working Tax Credits: Self-employed

Helen Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many people in Warrington North constituency were self-employed and in receipt of working tax credit in each year since 2010-11;
	(2)  how many self-employed people in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency were in receipt of each type of tax credit in each year from 2008.

Nicky Morgan: The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available are 2012-13.
	
		
			 Warrington unitary authority 
			  Thousand 
			  Number of families in receipt of tax credits containing at least one member identified as self-employed 
			 Tax year Families benefitting from both WTC and CTC Families benefitting from WTC Only 
			 2008-09 1.2 0.2 
			 2009-10 1.1 0.3 
			 2010-11 1.1 0.3 
			 2011-12 0.8 0.4 
			 2012-13 1.5 0.4 
		
	
	
		
			 Warrington North parliamentary constituency 
			  Thousands 
			  Number of families in receipt of tax credits containing at least one member identified as self-employed 
			 Tax year Families benefitting from both WTC and CTC Families benefitting from WTC Only 
			 2008-09 0.5 0.1 
			 2009-10 0.5 0.2 
			 2010-11 0.5 0.2 
			 2011-12 0.4 0.2 
			 2012-13 0.7 0.2 
		
	
	In general, there is and has been a long term trend of growth in the number of self employed people.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprentices there are in his Department.

Jo Swinson: BIS currently employs 58 apprentices. A further 10 apprentices will be appointed under the Civil Service Fast Track Apprenticeship scheme in September 2014.

Arts

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department provides any guidance specifically for the creative industries.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, works with industry to support growth in the thriving UK creative industries, including through the Creative Industries Council. On 2 July 2014, industry published the Creative Industries Strategy, available at
	www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk
	which the Government has welcomed.
	Recent publications of relevance to the sector include: details of £16 million funding from the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot to boost skills in the sector; the UKTI Creative Industries International Strategy, developed with industry, to increase exports and inward investment; the Technology Strategy Board’s strategy for innovation in the sector from 2013 to 2016; information for creators and intellectual property rights owners from the Intellectual Property Office; also two statistical publications from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Creative Industries Economic Estimates and Creative Industries: Focus on Employment.

Business: Registration

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of online business registration on registration rates; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: There is no register covering all businesses in the UK. The Registrar of Companies registers a subset of businesses and provides online registration for those businesses that register as companies or limited liability partnerships. HMRC registers sole traders for tax purposes.
	Online incorporation via software filing agents was introduced in July 2001, followed in April 2010 by the launch of the Citizen Incorporation Service via Companies House Webfiling. The number of companies on the register has almost doubled, from 1.66 million at the end of March 2001 to 3.25 million at March 2014. In the financial year 2013-14, 98% of all new companies were incorporated electronically.
	Companies House has carried out several studies to identify the main factors contributing to the increasing trend for company incorporations. This is attributed to a number of combined factors, such as the benefits of limited liability, changes to tax legislation and developments in the wider UK economy. There is no indication that the electronic enablement of company registration in itself has acted as a direct driver for the increase in new company registration rates, as just one of the methods the Government has used to help reduce the burden on business and the costs of running a company. This in turn has helped to make the UK one of the best places to set up and run a company.
	Electronic services have also enabled Companies House to absorb the significant additional workload resulting from the growing register, make organisational efficiency savings and pass these efficiencies on to customers in the form of lower fees. For incorporation, the UK charges some of the lowest fees in the world.

Comet Group

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects the report from the Insolvency Service into the collapse of Comet to be published.

Jo Swinson: The Insolvency Service's fact-finding inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the insolvency of Comet Group Ltd is being conducted under section 447 of the Companies Act. Publication of the findings of such investigations is prohibited by law although when an inquiry results in the winding up of the company, or the prosecution or disqualification of its directors, this is publicised.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the statement of 7 April 2014, Official Report, columns 1-2WS, on higher education (student support), what new requirements will be put on higher education institutions; and what steps he is taking to ensure those institutions are prepared to fulfil these requirements.

David Willetts: Higher education institutions have had specific duties to provide reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act since 2010.
	The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is in regular contact with representatives of higher education institutions as part of the preparation of the new guidance on disabled students allowances, which will be available in the autumn.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding available through the disabled student's allowance was spent on non-medical help in the last year.

David Willetts: Information on students awarded and paid disabled students’ allowance is published annually by Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education England’. The latest statistics are available at the following link:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/media/694170/slcsfr052013.pdf
	A further breakdown by type of disabled students’ allowance has been provided for the academic year 2012/13. The effective date is 30 November 2013. These figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013.
	Equivalent figures for the academic year 2013/14 will be available from November 2014.
	
		
			 Breakdown by type of disabled student allowance1, 2. Expenditure in England. Academic year 2012/13. Effective date: 30 November 20133 
			 Type of disabled student allowance Expenditure (£) 
			 Disabled student allowance total expenditure 121,239,000 
			 Disabled student allowance for non-medical helpers 77,859,000 
			 Part-time DSA total expenditure 6,811,000 
			 Part-time DSA for non-medical helpers 4,551,000 
			 Post graduate DSA total expenditure4 9,953,000 
			 Total DSA expenditure 138,003,000 
			 Notes: 1 Disabled student allowance (DSA) may be paid to the student or to a supplier on the student's behalf. 2 DSA payments may be made at any point during the academic year or after the end of the academic year. 3 The effective date is 30 November 2013. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013. 4 Post graduate DSA expenditure is not broken down in the same way as disabled student allowance and part-time DSA. An overall figure for post graduate DSA has been provided as a result. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many current students in (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) Cumbria and (d) South Lakeland have been awarded disabled students allowance.

David Willetts: Information on students awarded and paid Disabled Students’ Allowance is published annually by Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release ‘Student Support for Higher Education England’. The latest statistics are available at the following link:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/media/694170/slcsfr052013.pdf
	A further breakdown for England, Cumbria and South Lakeland has been provided in the table for the academic year 2012/13. The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. These figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013.
	Equivalent figures for the academic year 2013/14 will be available from November 2014.
	Information on Scottish domiciled students awarded and paid Disabled Students’ Allowance is published by the Student Award Agency for Scotland. A comparable figure for the UK is unavailable.
	
		
			 Students in receipt of Disabled Students’ Allowance1,2 from England, South Lakeland3 and Cumbria3, academic year 2012/13, effective date: 13 November 20134 
			  Number of Applicants Paid 
			  Application Type  
			 Area Full-Time Application Part-Time Application Post Graduate DSA Total 
			 England2 54,900 2,900 4,600 62,400 
			 South Lakeland2 130 10 10 150 
			 Cumbria2 380 30 20 430 
			 1 Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) may be paid to the student or to a supplier on the student's behalf. 2 DSA Payments may be made at any point during the academic year or after the end of the academic year. 3 Figures are derived from the post code of the applicant's home address. 4 The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013. Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not add to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the number of current students who have been awarded disabled student's allowance (DSA) who would fail to be awarded DSA under the proposed revised eligibility guidelines.

David Willetts: Disabled students will continue to receive support through a combination of disabled students' allowances (DSAs) and reasonable adjustments made by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Each student's needs are unique. Some will receive more support through reasonable adjustments than previously experienced. Written guidance will be available.
	It is not possible to make an accurate estimate of how many prospective students will no longer be eligible for DSAs as many students receive more than one type of support.
	Current DSA recipients and disabled students applying for DSAs in 2014/15 will not be affected by these changes in 2015/16.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the cost of introducing, maintaining and updating a register of providers of disabled students' allowances (DSA) study needs assessments and DSA assistive technology service providers; and who will fund the introduction and maintenance of that register.

David Willetts: The Disabled Students’ Allowances Quality Assurance Group already holds a register of suppliers. These arrangements are now being formalised.
	No Government funding is provided for these arrangements.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 18 June 2014, Official Report, column 649W, on disabled students’ allowances, if he will publish a list of all stakeholders being consulted on the Equality Analysis and Disabled Students’ Allowances Guidance for 2015-16.

David Willetts: We have and continue to actively engage with a wide range of stakeholders following the laying of a written ministerial statement on disabled students’ allowances on 7 April 2014, Official Report, columns 1-2WS. A list of those who have submitted information or evidence for the Equality Analysis and Disabled Students’ Allowances Guidance for 2015-16 will be published as part of this document.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects to conclude his Department's consultation on the proposed changes to the disabled students' allowance; and when he expects to publish the Equality Analysis and Disabled Students' Allowances Guidance for 2015-16.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is actively engaged in discussions with stakeholders to inform the DSA Guidance 2015/16 and the Equality Analysis and this will continue over the summer. Both documents will be published in the autumn.

Disabled Students' Allowances: Lewisham

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people in (a) the London borough of Lewisham and (b) Lewisham East constituency are in receipt of disabled student's allowance.

David Willetts: Information on students awarded and paid disabled students' allowance is published annually by Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release “Student Support for Higher Education England”. The latest statistics are available at the following link:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/media/694170/slcsfr052013.pdf
	A further breakdown for the London borough of Lewisham and Lewisham East constituency has been provided in the table for the academic year 2012/13. The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013.
	Equivalent figures for the academic year 2013/14 will be available from November 2014.
	
		
			 Students in receipt of disabled students allowance1.2 from the London borough of Lewisham3 and Lewisham East constituency3, Academic year 2012/13 (provisional), Effective date: 13 November 20134 
			  Application type 
			  Full-time application Part-time application Postgraduate DSA Total 
			 Area Number of applicants paid Number of applicants paid Number of applicants paid Number of applicants paid 
			 London borough of Lewisham 450 40 60 550 
			 Lewisham East Constituency 150 10 10 170 
			 1 Disabled student allowance (DSA) may be paid to the student or to a supplier on the student’s behalf. 2 DSA payments may be made at any point during the academic year or after the end of the academic year. 3 Figures are derived from the post code of the applicant's home address. 4 The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013. Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not add to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Disabled Students' Allowances: North East

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people in (a) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, (b) Middlesbrough, (c) Stockton North, (d) Stockton South, (e) Hartlepool, (f) Redcar constituency and (g) the North East received disabled students' allowance in (i) 2011-12, (ii) 2012-13 and (iii) 2013-14.

David Willetts: Information on students awarded and paid disabled students’ allowance is published annually by the Student Loans Company (SLC) in the Statistical First Release “Student Support for Higher Education England”. The latest statistics are available at the following link:
	http://www.slc.co.uk/media/694170/slcsfr052013.pdf
	A further breakdown for the requested constituencies, local authorities and North East region has been provided in the table for academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13.
	The effective date is that used for the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. Hence, the figures for 2012/13 are classified as provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013.
	Equivalent figures for the academic year 2013/14 will be available from November 2014.
	
		
			 Students in receipt of disabled students allowance(1,2) in the North East region(3), Academic year, Effective date 13 November 2013(4 
			  Application type 
			  2011/12 2012/13(4) 
			  Full-time application Part-time application Post graduate DSA Total Full-time application Part-time application Post graduate DSA Total 
			 Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland 80 10 10 100 80 10 10 100 
			 Middlesbrough LEA 100 10 10 120 90 10 10 110 
			 Stockton North constituency 60 — — 60 60 — — 70 
			 Stockton South constituency 70 10 — 80 90 — — 90 
			 Hartlepool LEA 70 10 10 90 70 — — 70 
			 Redcar constituency 70 10 — 80 60 — — 70 
			 North East region 1,470 160 140 1,770 1,590 150 100 1,860 
			 “—” represents a number less than 5. 1 Disabled student allowance may be paid to the student or to a supplier on the student's behalf. 2 DSA payments may be made at any point during the academic year or after the end of the academic year. 3 Figures are derived from the post code of the applicant's home address. 4 The effective date is that of the November 2013 Awards Statistical First Release. The figures are therefore provisional and do not include students who were awarded DSA after November 2013. Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Totals may not add to the sum of the components due to rounding.

Government Office for Science

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) women and (b) men are employed in the Government Office for Science.

Jo Swinson: As at 30 June 2014, the Government Office for Science employed 95 staff in total. Of those, 39 were women and 56 were men.

Higher Education: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many UCAS applications there were to (a) the university of York and (b) university of York St John in 2008-09 and in each year since then.

David Willetts: The latest information is shown in the following table. UCAS have not released any data on applications to individual institutions for the 2014 applications cycle but the latest figures for total applicants to all UK institutions (published on 29 May 2014) show that they have risen by 4%, compared to the same point in 2013.
	
		
			 UCAS main scheme applications to university of York and York St John university, 2008 to 2013, full-time undergraduate courses 
			  Year of entry 
			  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 University of York 18,434 21,543 24,548 23,725 23,570 25,030 
			 York St John University 5,541 6,194 7,685 8,657 9,600 9,700 
			 Notes: 1. Each applicant can submit up to five applications. 2. Figures cover applicants who applied during the main UCAS application scheme which closes on 30 June. Applicants who subsequently applied during clearing are not included. Source: UCAS.

National Careers Service

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many staff are currently employed in the National Careers Service; and how many staff he expects to be employed after the new contract for that service is in place.

Matthew Hancock: As of 1 January 2014, the staff cohort for the National Careers Service was 3,740 people, these figures may vary during the course of the year. Future staff numbers will be decided by the prime contractors of the National Careers Service in line with their contractual responsibilities.

National Careers Service

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what quality criteria will be included in contracts for provision of the National Careers Service; and how performance against those criteria will be monitored.

Matthew Hancock: National Careers Service Prime Contractors are required to comply with robust quality standards. All Prime Contractors must hold and retain the matrix Standard; they must comply with the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework for Further Education and Skills; they must participate in any research to assess, measure and improve the quality of the National Careers Service, and; they must produce an evidence-based self-assessment review each year. They will also need to provide evidence of their partnership activity and their role in brokering relationships between employers and schools and colleges.

Pay

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the Government's policy is on whether holiday pay may be calculated without reference to bonus and overtime payment; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The Government guidance on this issue states that a week's holiday pay equals how much a worker receives for a week's work, excluding non-guaranteed overtime payments in most cases.
	We are aware of relevant court cases, such as Neat v. Freightliner which will be heard by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in late July.

Pay

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department plans to intervene in the Neal v Freightliner proceedings in the Employment Appeal Tribunal in July.

Jo Swinson: I can confirm that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is planning to intervene in these proceedings in late July.

Prisons: Higher Education

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have completed university degrees inside prison in each of the last 10 years; and what the cost to the public purse was of that education.

Matthew Hancock: Most prisoners who study higher education (HE) in custody do so through the Open University (OU). The following table shows the number of prisoners in England who have completed OU degrees while in prison from academic year 2003/04. Prior to September 2012, the costs of prisoners’ tuition were met from public funds in an arrangement that broadly mirrored the grant arrangements for other part-time HE students. The OU’s additional costs for delivering in custody are met through a grant from the Department. We do not have information on the public funding for these specific learners. From September 2012, prisoners have been required to take out, and then repay, tuition fee loans in the same way as other learners.
	Number of prisoners completing Open University degrees in prisons from 2003/04
	
		
			 Award year (academic year) Total number of prisoners 
			 2003/04 4 
			 2004/05 10 
			 2005/06 14 
			 2006/07 10 
			 2007/08 11 
			 2008/09 22 
			 2009/10 19 
			 2010/11 23 
			 2011/12 26 
			 2012/13 16 
			 Total 155 
			   
			 England only  
			 Source: Information supplied by the Open University

Shipbuilding: Portsmouth

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions the Minister for Portsmouth has had with BAE Systems about the sale of the shipyard in Portsmouth; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The decision to close the shipyard at Portsmouth and focus shipbuilding activity at the Clyde was a commercial decision made by BAE Systems.
	A prospectus for the site was issued on 10 March. I am working with the Ministry of Defence in the search for a commercial venture to occupy the BAE site.
	I am confident that Portsmouth has a strong maritime future. £13 million of regional growth funding has been awarded to the Solent LEP to support the defence and maritime sector in the Solent and ensure a sustainable future for the advanced manufacturing skills in the area.

Shipbuilding: Portsmouth

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions the Minister for Portsmouth has had with BAE Systems on the potential implication for Portsmouth of a yes vote in the referendum on Scottish independence.

Michael Fallon: The Government is not, and will not be, making contingency plans for the possibility of an independent Scottish state before the referendum is concluded. We are clear that any break-up of the United Kingdom would be bad for Scotland and bad for the UK as a whole. Therefore I have not discussed the potential implications with BAE.

Street Trading

Dan Byles: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to (a) amend or repeal the Pedlars Acts 1871 and 1881 and (b) amend Schedule 4 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 covering the street trading regime of England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: The original Street trading and pedlary consultation was issued in November 2012 and covered the repeal of the Pedlars Acts 1871 and 1881 and other, incidental changes to the Local Government and Miscellaneous Provisions Act to ensure compliance with the EU Services Directive 2006/123/EC. The consultation had been extended in order for the Government to engage further with the UK’s pedlar community and closed in April 2013. We hope to issue a response by the end of the summer.

Students: Disability

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will provide additional financial support to disabled students following the removal of disabled students' allowance.

David Willetts: Disabled students allowance (DSA) has not been removed.
	The maximum amounts for DSA were announced in March 2014 and are being maintained at current levels for 2015/16.

Students: Loans

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how often his Department calculates the RAB charge on student loans.

David Willetts: The RAB charge on student loans is updated when the Office for Budget Responsibility updates its macro economic forecasts, which normally happens two or three times a year. Another update happens annually, when the Student Loans Company provides the Department with updated loans data.

Trade Unions

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills for what reasons he decided against change following his review into his Department's check-off system for employees' trade union subscriptions.

Jo Swinson: I have not reviewed, and have no plans to review, this Department's check-off arrangements.
	I have not reviewed these arrangements, as I believe that trade unions have an important role to play in creating a positive employment relations climate from which all organisations can benefit. I also believe that the check-off system does not create a distinguishable burden on the administration of the HR function in this Department.

Vocational Guidance

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what contractual requirements to provide face-to-face advice will be in the contracts of providers of the National Careers Guidance; and what the current levels of provision are.

Matthew Hancock: 12 regional National Careers Service providers will be contractually obliged to deliver an area-based service that will provide careers advice to adults through digital and social media platforms, on the telephone and face to face from 1 October 2014. The contractors must ensure that customers are aware of the ways they can access the service. Face to face careers advice is available for customers that request it, those who need intensive direct support or those who are unable to access digital and telephone services.
	The National Careers Service delivered the following during the 2013-14 financial year:
	664,948 new adult customers who accessed face to face advice;
	371,778 telephone advice sessions for adults;
	52,150 telephone advice sessions, webchat, e-mails and texts for young people;
	15,710,908 website visits.
	25,871 mobile web home page views

Wind Power

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward plans to enable the Green Investment Bank to purchase equity in existing offshore projects to enable similar investment in onshore wind turbine construction; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: The role of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is to help finance green infrastructure projects. The terms of its state aid approval do not allow it to invest in specific supply chain companies or activities such as turbine manufacturing. GIB has already taken equity stakes in a number of operating offshore wind farms.

Woolworths

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2014, Official Report, column 464W, on insolvency, how much the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service paid in relation to the collapse of Woolworths; and how much of that amount was paid in respect of protective awards.

Jo Swinson: The Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service has paid out a total of £59,207,942.40 to the former employees of Woolworths, and of this, £18,188,224.54 was paid in respect of protective awards.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AIDS: Conferences

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development who will represent her Department at the upcoming International Aids Conference.

Lynne Featherstone: Her Majesty’s Government will be represented at the conference. We do not routinely confirm attendance in advance.

Burma

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which community-based women's organisations in Burma receive funding from her Department to assist victims of sexual violence by the Burmese army.

Alan Duncan: DFID is providing £500,000 through the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA) to strengthen the network and capacity of agencies working on gender-based violence in Rakhine and Kachin those areas.

Burma

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects her Department is supporting in promoting free media in Burma.

Alan Duncan: DFID provides a global grant to BBC Media Action which includes work in Burma. In Burma, this has supported capacity-building with the state broadcaster, training of local journalists, and the launch of new programmes featuring opposition voices and the views of ordinary people.

Burma

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to achieve universal healthcare in Burma.

Alan Duncan: Along with other donors, DFID funds the Three Millennium Development Goal Fund. This fund is delivering improved reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services across seven states and regions, as well as funding gaps in the national programmes to control HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The fund also invests in improved health systems, including the supply of drugs and commodities, human resources, and health information systems.

Developing Countries: Education

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many children received schooling as a direct result of UK aid in (a) sub-Saharan Africa and (b) South Asia in the latest period for which figures are available.

Lynne Featherstone: Up until September 2013, UK Aid has supported over 6.4 million children in primary and lower secondary school, of which 3.1 million were girls, through our bilateral programmes. Of these, 4.2 million were in Sub-Saharan Africa and 2.1 million children were in South Asia. These figures are the latest available, and are reported in the DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13.

Multilateral Trade Organisation

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development on how many boards of multilateral organisations representatives from her Department sit; and how many meetings of each board such representatives of has not attended in the last 12 months.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID currently sits on the board of 28 multilateral organisations to which it gives core funding, sometimes representing the UK alone and sometimes also representing a constituency (group of donor members). DFID either attended, or was represented by a member of their constituency at, all board meetings in the last 12 months.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in her Department and its non-departmental public body.

Alan Duncan: There are currently four organisations which collect subscriptions through DFID's payroll service:
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Sports Council
	Public and Commercial Services Union
	EKODA Club (social club)

St Helena

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent assessment he has made of the progress on constructing the Saint Helena airport; and if he will make a statement.

Alan Duncan: Construction is progressing well and is currently to budget and on schedule to allow the airport to open in February 2016.

Uganda

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2014, Official Report, column 416W, on Uganda, to which human rights organisations her Department is stepping up to support; and what form that support will take.

Lynne Featherstone: We are consulting in-country with LGBTI groups and development partners to determine the best ways to support our aims.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many (a) precision-guided munitions and (b) gravity bombs of each type have been dropped in Afghanistan by British (i) fixed-wing aircraft and (ii) unmanned aerial vehicles since 23 March 2011.

Mark Francois: The number of precision-guided munitions dropped in Afghanistan in the period requested are shown in the following table. No free fall bombs have been dropped in this time.
	
		
			 Aircraft Type 24 March 2011 to 16 June 20141 
			 Fixed Wing 71 
			 Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS) 317 
			 1 Inclusive. 
		
	
	Use of force remains closely controlled and the avoidance of civilian casualties has been paramount. Professional crews carefully select the smallest warhead appropriate to the target being attacked to ensure they deliver the required effect, while minimising the risk to civilians.
	All UK forces operate in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, following the principles of distinction, humanity, proportionality and military necessity. The UK’s clearly defined Rules of Engagement are formulated on this basis. The same strict Rules of Engagement that govern the use of conventional military aircraft also apply to RPAS and targets are always positively identified as legitimate military objectives. Reaper is the UK’s only RPAS with the ability to deploy precision-guided weapons.

Afghanistan

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Afghan interpreters have been granted asylum since he announced in 2013 that the resettlement package for Afghan interpreters would extend to any interpreter serving for a year continuously up to December 2012.

Mark Francois: The ex-gratia redundancy scheme for locally engaged civilians (LECs) which was announced on 4 June 2013, includes a bespoke immigration arrangement specifically for Afghan LECs which is unrelated to the UK asylum system.
	The ex-gratia scheme includes an offer of relocation to the UK for LECs who meet the relevant eligibility criteria. We estimate that up to 600 LECs will be eligible to apply for relocation via the ex-gratia scheme; the majority of these individuals will have been interpreters. Two have been granted visas; visa applications are being processed for another 269. Further applications will be processed as our remaining LECs are made redundant. We expect the first LECs to arrive in the UK later this summer.

Armed Forces

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to centrally record all instances of verbal or physical abuse made towards members of the Armed Forces.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence has no plans to record such information, and no representation has been made by the armed forces that such a record is necessary. We have seen no evidence of widespread or increasing prejudice, harassment or criminality aimed at service personnel.

Armed Forces: Cadets

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to change funding for existing Combined Cadet Force detachments and to communicate those changes to schools.

Anna Soubry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 June 2014, Official Report, column 221W, to my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray).

Armed Forces: Housing

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Statistical Bulletin 6.02 on Accommodation will be published by the end of July 2014.

Andrew Murrison: It is intended that Statistical Bulletin 6.02 will be published at 09.30 am on Thursday 24 July 2014, as announced on the Ministry of Defence timetable for future releases on the GOV.UK website.

Armed Forces: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many UK (a) regular military and (b) civilian personnel were based in City of York in each year since 2008.

Anna Soubry: Information on the number of UK regular military personnel based in the City of York Unitary Authority area for each year from 2008 until 2013 is published in Ministry of Defence Quarterly Location Statistics Table 3.3a, available on The National Archives website:
	http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140116142443/http://www.dasa.mod.uk/index.php/publications/personnel/combined/quarterly-location-statistics
	Information on the number of UK regular military personnel based in the City of York unitary authority area for each year from 2010 until 2014 is published in Ministry of Defence Quarterly Location Statistics Table 3.3a, available on the GOV.UK website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/location-of-all-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-index
	Information on the number of UK civilian personnel based in City of York unitary authority area for each year from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2011 is produced in the following table:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2008 650 
			 2009 680 
			 2010 720 
			 2011 640 
		
	
	Information on the number of UK civilian personnel based in the City of York unitary authority area for each year since 1 April 2012 is now published in Ministry of Defence Quarterly Location Statistics Table 3.3a, available at the GOV.UK website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/location-of-all-uk-regular-service-and-civilian-personnel-quarterly-statistics-index
	Additionally, copies of the Quarterly Location Statistics are available in the Library of the House.

Billing

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many creditors had remained unpaid by his Department on 1 June 2014 for (a) 45, (b) 60, (c) 75 and (d) 76 days and over.

Philip Dunne: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) financial systems capture the length of time the invoice has been outstanding at the point the invoice is paid.
	The following table represents our assessment of late payments paid during the 12 months ended 1 June 2014. This does not reflect existing unpaid bills.
	
		
			 Invoices paid after 45 days between June 2013 and June 2014 
			 Days Number 
			 45-59 19 
			 60-74 6 
			 75 0 
			 76 18 
			 Total over 45 Days 43 
		
	
	During financial year 2013-14 out of over 4 million correctly submitted invoices the MOD paid 94% within five working days.

Defence Vetting Agency

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many people were employed by the Defence Vetting Agency in (a) York and (b) total on 1 April in each year since it was created.

Anna Soubry: The figures in the following table represent people employed by the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting for 2012, 2013 and 2014 and its predecessor the Defence Vetting Agency until 2011, in York and total, on 1 April each year.
	
		
			  Staff based in York Overall total 
			 2003 220 320 
			 2004 220 340 
		
	
	
		
			 2005 230 350 
			 2006 230 350 
			 2007 230 360 
			 2008 250 390 
			 2009 300 450 
			 2010 310 470 
			 2011 260 430 
			 2012 220 350 
			 2013 180 310 
			 2014 162 297 
			 Notes: 1. Although the Defence Vetting Agency was founded in 1996 reliable figures are only available from 2003. 2. Figures are for full-time equivalents. 3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Marchwood Military Port

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy formally to consult the residents of Marchwood, Hampshire, about the sale of the lease of land and facilities at the site of the military port; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: There will be a formal opportunity to receive and hear the views of local residents in regard to the Marchwood proposal via the statutory planning process. Additionally in recognition of the ongoing concerns that local residents will understandably have, Ministry of Defence officials will continue to engage with local representatives and through the Local Planning Authority until the commercial arrangements are completed.
	It is not yet known how interested parties will seek to develop the Marchwood site for commercial use over and above the continuing military use at this early stage in the process. Consequently, any consultation with the local community would, at this stage, be speculative.
	I would expect the successful partner to consult with the local community regarding its plans for the site following the grant of the concession.

Members: Correspondence

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to answer the letter sent to him by the Rt. hon. Member for Mid Sussex dated 14 March 2014, enclosing correspondence from his constituent, Mr Douglas Denham St. Pinnock.

Anna Soubry: The Minister for the Armed Forces, my right hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois) replied to the right hon. Member on 2 July 2014.
	I apologise for the length of time taken to respond to your letter.

Military Aircraft

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what account he has taken of (a) recent losses of aircraft and yachts at sea and (b) the deterioration in East-West relations resulting from events in the Ukraine; when assessing the effects on defence capability of the absence of maritime patrol aircraft; and if he will make a statement.

Philip Dunne: The Department for Transport is the lead for civil aeronautical and maritime search and rescue. The Ministry of Defence makes defence assets available for search and rescue, which in the past have included Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA).
	We continually monitor the international situation and will adjust our capability plans in response as necessary. The capability gap resulting in the removal of MPA, which was years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of pounds over budget, was recognised in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010 but has been partially mitigated using other maritime assets. Prudent management of the defence budget means that we have the ability to consider enhancements to the defence programme should a requirement to do so emerge.

Military Aircraft

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how long it will take to (a) acquire aircraft and (b) reinstate skills following a decision to reacquire maritime patrol aircraft.

Philip Dunne: The period from a decision to acquire entry into service would depend on the platform selected, affordability in the Defence programme and commercial arrangements. It is therefore not possible to provide a specific timeline.
	The UK has since 2011 run a Seedcorn programme whereby RAF personnel are embedded in the Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) capabilities of a number of close allies. This initiative will mitigate the long lead time usually taken to establish a suitably qualified and experienced cadre if there is a future requirement to regenerate a UK MPA capability.
	The previous MPA capability, the Nimrod MR2, was retired by the previous Government. It's successor programme, the Nimrod MR4A, was hundreds of millions of pounds over budget with significant technical challenges present to achieve air worthiness certification.

Patrol Craft

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the contracts to be signed for the three offshore patrol vessels to be built for the Royal Navy.

Philip Dunne: Negotiations with BAE Systems for the contract to build the three new offshore patrol vessels, announced in November 2013, are ongoing. Subject to main-gate approval, we intend to award a build contract to enable construction of these vessels to begin in autumn 2014.

Veterans

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department issues guidance on protocols relating to former armed forces' personnel using their rank as a title after they have left service.

Anna Soubry: Ministry of Defence officials are not aware of any official guidance on this issue. However, Debretts suggests that:
	‘…regular officers of the rank of major and above may use, and be addressed by, their rank after being placed on the retired list.’

Written Questions: Government Responses

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will answer Question 201291, tabled by the hon. Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland on 18 June 2014.

Anna Soubry: I responded to the hon. Member on 2 July 2014, Official Report, columns 678-79W.

EDUCATION

Academies

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much has been paid to converter academies towards pre-opening costs since 2010.

Edward Timpson: The total pre-opening costs for converter academies from 2010 to the end of March 2014 are £102 million.

Adoption

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to adopt a child.

Edward Timpson: Major reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014 are helping to speed up the legal adoption process for children in England, support quicker matching and ensure earlier placement of children with foster families who may go on to adopt them. Adoption scorecards were introduced in 2012 and are driving improvements locally. We implemented a new adopter approval process last year and under this new process prospective adopters can now be approved in just six months. New training materials and other tools have been developed by the College of Social Work and Research in Practice to improve the skills of social workers so they are better placed to quickly judge what is best for each child. In 2012-13, the number of adopters was 34% up on the year before.

Arts: Primary Education

Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what proportion of primary pupils from each region have engaged with (a) theatre activities, (b) music activities, (c) dance and (d) other arts in each year since 2009-10;
	(2)  what proportion of primary pupils from (a) disadvantaged backgrounds and (b) non-disadvantaged backgrounds have engaged with (i) theatre activities, (ii) music activities, (iii) dance and (iv) other arts in each year since 2009-10.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education does not collect this specific information.
	All primary pupils in maintained schools will participate in drama, music, dance and art and design as part of the national curriculum. In addition, many pupils take part in extra curricula arts activities both inside and outside school.

Billing

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the answer of 19 October 2013, Official Report, column 235W, on billing, what the value was of duplicate supplier payments identified by his Department's audit; and what proportion of such payments have since been recovered.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department’s spend recovery audit contractor has identified a small number of duplicate payments (excluding Executive Agencies). In 2012/13 there were 12 duplicate payments and in 2013/14 there was one. Any duplicate payments that have been identified and already recovered in previous years would not have been picked up in this audit.
	The value of these duplicate payments is £110,527 over the five years audited. The audit was completed in April 2014 and we have recovered £40,256 (36%) of the total amount, with the remainder being subject to an ongoing recovery process by the contractor. We expect the contractor to pursue the remaining recovery action quickly.
	In addition to the recovery work currently being undertaken, the Department has brought in other measures to minimise the risk of duplicate payments. From August 2013, arrangements for grants payments are dealt with by a central grants payment team. More recently, we have implemented the use of a unique reference number (URN) to reduce the risk of inaccurate grant payments and improve management information. The Department also ensures that finance guidance is updated as appropriate to ensure risks are minimised and we have regular discussions with our shared service provider about continuous improvements, which includes measures such as routine supplier data cleansing and clear protocols.

Children in Care

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) primary, other than small primary and (b) secondary schools in each local authority area had more than three per cent of pupils in care in the latest period for which figures are available.

Edward Timpson: The following tables show the number of primary and secondary schools with at least 3% of pupils who were looked after on the 31 March 2013. This has been presented by local authority. Schools with a headcount of fewer than 50 pupils have been removed from this analysis.
	
		
			 Local authority Total number of primary schools1 Number of primary schools where more than 3.0% of pupils are looked-after children2 
			 Cumbria 235 10 
			 Lincolnshire 258 7 
			 Kent 447 6 
			 Lancashire 452 6 
			 Nottinghamshire 278 6 
		
	
	
		
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 121 4 
			 Wirral 90 4 
			 Wolverhampton 73 4 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 54 3 
			 Cornwall 213 3 
			 Devon 275 3 
			 Hampshire 422 3 
			 Norfolk 320 3 
			 Staffordshire 282 3 
			 Wiltshire 190 3 
			 Bury 63 2 
			 Cheshire East 120 2 
			 Dudley 78 2 
			 Durham 217 2 
			 East Sussex 151 2 
			 Halton 50 2 
			 Herefordshire 73 2 
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of 70 2 
			 Leeds 218 2 
			 North Tyneside 56 2 
			 North Yorkshire 249 2 
			 Northumberland 97 2 
			 Shropshire 115 2 
			 St Helens 54 2 
			 Sunderland 82 2 
			 Warwickshire 190 2 
			 West Berkshire 62 2 
			 Worcestershire 177 2 
			 Barnsley 78 1 
			 Birmingham 300 1 
			 Blackpool 29 1 
			 Bolton 94 1 
			 Bristol, City of 104 1 
			 Bromley 74 1 
			 Buckinghamshire 164 1 
			 Calderdale 84 1 
			 Cambridgeshire 201 1 
			 Coventry 84 1 
			 Dorset 129 1 
			 Essex 452 1 
			 Gateshead 67 1 
			 Gloucestershire 225 1 
			 Hertfordshire 386 1 
			 Kirklees 145 1 
			 Knowsley 50 1 
			 Leicestershire 216 1 
			 Liverpool 122 1 
			 North Lincolnshire 63 1 
			 Northamptonshire 248 1 
			 Oldham 86 1 
			 Rochdale 69 1 
			 Salford 76 1 
			 Sandwell 94 1 
			 Solihull 62 1 
			 South Tyneside 45 1 
			 Southampton 60 1 
			 Torbay 30 1 
			 Trafford 67 1 
			 Wigan 102 1 
		
	
	
		
			 York 52 1 
			 1 Number of primary schools (including middle-deemed primary) with a pupil headcount of at least 50 (based on 2013 school census data). 2 Number of primary schools (including middle-deemed primary), where at least 3.0% of pupils were looked after on 31 March 2013. 
		
	
	
		
			 Local authority Total number of secondary schools1 Number of secondary schools where more than 3% of pupils are looked-after children2 
			 Bury 14 1 
			 Lancashire 83 1 
			 Lincolnshire 54 1 
			 Luton 13 1 
			 Northumberland 46 1 
			 Staffordshire 69 1 
			 Wirral 22 1 
			 1 Number of secondary schools (including middle-deemed secondary) with a pupil headcount of at least 50 (based on 2013 school census data). 2 Number of secondary schools (including middle-deemed secondary), where at least 3.0% of pupils were looked after on 31 March 2013.

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the additional costs to (a) parents and (b) childcare providers of providing childcare for disabled children;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the level of accessibility of childcare for disabled children; how many childcare settings of all types of provision provide places for disabled children; what proportion of disabled children are able to access early years provision; and how many disabled children access the free early years entitlement at (a) three and four years old and (b) two years old.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government is extending the entitlement criteria for two-year-old early learning. From September 2014, two-year-olds will be eligible if they have a current statement of special educational needs (SEN) or an education, health and care plan (EHCP) or if they get disability living allowance. The Government is determined to ensure that all children are able to benefit from their Government-funded early education, and local authorities have the necessary funding, including in the high-needs block of the dedicated schools grant, to secure this.
	The Government published Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents 2012/13 in January 2014, which contains a range of information about the views of parents with disabled children about child care. The survey contained information about access to childcare, including flexible and holiday care, the quality and affordability of this care. It is published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/275992/SFR06-2014_Childcare_ and_Early_Years_Survey_of_Parents_2012-13_final.pdf
	The Government published Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2011, which contains information on early years providers who care for children with disabilities. This survey is published online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2011

Children: Protection

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the UK's child protection legislation; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: Professor Eileen Munro undertook a wide-ranging independent review of the child protection system in England reporting in 2011. This review looked at the system as a whole, including the adequacy of the child protection legislation. The Department for Education has since clarified the legislation through the revised statutory safeguarding guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013’ so all organisations working with vulnerable children know what the law says they and others must do.
	The Department will continue to monitor the current legislation and review options to strengthen the system to keep children safe.

Children: Social Services

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2014, Official Report, column 78W, on children: social services, and with reference to clause 71 of the Deregulation Bill, whether the Government intends to maintain the requirement for all third-party social work providers to register with Ofsted.

Edward Timpson: The Deregulation Bill contains provisions that would remove the requirement for providers of social work services to register with Ofsted.

Education: Lancaster

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to Lancaster city council's Local Plan for Lancaster District 2011-2031: Strategic Options for Land Allocations, what assessment his Department has made of the potential expansion of demand for educational facilities for children and young adults that would arise under Option 5 of that plan.

Edward Timpson: Lancashire local authority has a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places available. The Department for Education continues to engage with Lancashire local authority, along with all other local authorities, to understand the place planning pressures they face.
	The Department has not assessed Lancaster district council’s plans for long-term expansion with regard to the provision of educational facilities. The council’s plan is a local area consultation and decisions will be made at local level.
	With regard to funding for additional school places, local authorities are asked to include potential pupils from new housing developments (where there is already planning permission or there is a high degree of confidence that they will go ahead) in their forecasts that they provide to the Department. These forecasts underpin the capital funding allocations for the delivery of school places. The Department has allocated a total of £83 million basic need funding to Lancashire local authority for the provision of school places between 2011-12 and 2016-17.
	In addition to government funding, the Department expects housing developers to make a contribution to the infrastructure needs of the new communities created. Securing that funding is a matter for the local authority.

Education: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the revenue spending was for each (a) primary and (b) secondary pupil in York Unitary Authority area in each year since 2008-09 and in each year since.

David Laws: The available information on expenditure in maintained primary and secondary schools in York local authority is shown in the table. Local authority maintained schools receive their funding from their local authority, who control how this is apportioned. To provide data for further years would incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 School income and expenditure and per capita statistics for local authority maintained schools in York local authority area1, 2, 3, years 2011-12 and 2012-13 
			  Primary schools Secondary schools 
			  £000 £ per pupil4 £000 £ per pupil4 
			 Spending by schools 2012-13     
			 Total expenditure5 52,545,453 3,963 41,797,127 5,379 
			 Income (generated by schools)6 2,721,285 205 2,015,165 259 
			 Net current expenditure (total expenditure less income) 49,824,168 3,758 39,781,962 5,119 
			      
			 Spending by schools 2011-12     
			 Total expenditure5 50,618,714 3,949 42,394,872 5,330 
			 Income (generated by schools)6 2,522,975 204 2,000,017 251 
		
	
	
		
			 Net current expenditure (total expenditure less income) 48,095,740 3,745 40,394,855 5,079 
			 1 The detailed definition of every income and expenditure category is available on the Department's website at the following link: http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/consistentreporting/b00205260/consistent-financial-reporting-online-guide 2 School expenditure data is provided by local authority maintained schools only. It does not contain data on academies. Therefore the income and expenditure figures are affected by the numbers of schools converting to academy status. In particular this affects the figures for secondary schools and makes year-on-year comparisons difficult. 3 Cash terms figures as reported by schools. 4 Per pupil figures are based on pupils and income and expenditure in schools that were open for the full financial year. 5 Total expenditure is the sum of the following four categories: teaching staff, education support staff, other employee costs and running expenses (E01 to E32 excluding code E30). 6 Income generated by schools (rather than the funding received through central Government and local authorities) covers CFR codes I07 to I13 plus I17 which includes, for example, income generated from facilities, services, catering, parental contributions towards school visits and donations. It also includes receipts from insurance claims. Latest figures on both the income and expenditure of local authority maintained schools in England for the financial year April 2012 to March 2013 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/la-and-school-expenditure-financial-year-2012-to-2013

Free School Meals

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in (a) York, (b) North Yorkshire, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber and (d) England received free school meals in 1995-96 and in each year since.

David Laws: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in York local authority, North Yorkshire local authority, Yorkshire and the Humber region and England for 2002 to 2014 has been placed in the Library of the House.
	Comparable data for earlier years are not available.

Free School Meals: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many secondary school pupils in Ashfield constituency received free school meals in each of the last five years.

David Laws: Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in state-funded secondary schools is published in the “Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2014” Statistical First Release1.
	1Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014
	Table 8b shows local authority level information. Parliamentary constituency level information is not published. Information for 2010 to 2013 can be found in previous versions of this release.2
	2Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers

Free School Meals: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency received free school meals in each year since 1995-96.

David Laws: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in Warrington local authority and England for 2002 to 2014 has been placed in the House Library. Comparable data for earlier years are not available.
	Information by parliamentary constituency is not published.

Internet: Bullying

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to tackle cyber-bullying.

Edward Timpson: The Government believes that internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
	All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying. The “Keeping Children Safe in Education” guidance outlines the importance of tackling cyber-bullying, which can be found online at:
	http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/schools-the-wider-sector/cyberbullying.aspx
	Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.
	The Government recognises that educating young people about online safety is key to tackling cyber-bullying. As part of changes to the new computing programmes of study which will be taught from September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages. This will empower young people to tackle cyber-bullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.
	The new curriculum also offers opportunities to tackle the underlying causes of bullying; for example the new citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
	The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general, this can, and does, include work to tackle cyber-bullying.
	The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Also through funding provided by the Department the Anti-Bullying Alliance has produced specific advice on cyber-bullying for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.
	Government ministers have regular meetings with internet providers, social media platforms and search engines on matters related to internet safety, including cyber-bullying. Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport also co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together a range of experts across government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.
	In July 2013 the Prime Minister announced measures to support parents to install free and easy to use internet filters which can block access to harmful websites. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now rolled out easy to use filtering to all new customers and will confirm that, by the end of 2014, 95% of all homes with an existing internet connection will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter. The filters are constantly being refined and updated by the ISPs to keep families as safe as possible in the fast changing digital world. The ISPs have also announced a new £25 million internet safety campaign over three years that will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  if he will estimate the total number of ministerial replies from his Department to hon. Members in a parliamentary Session; and what proportion of such replies are sent (a) by letter and (b) by email;
	(2)  what plans his Department has to increase the number of replies sent electronically to letters from hon. Members.

Elizabeth Truss: Information is not available in the form requested. Reports on the performance of Departments in handling correspondence from hon. Members and peers are published by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General each year and include numbers of letters to which Ministers reply. The report for the calendar year 2013, 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 17WS, shows that 16,898 such letters were received by Department for Education Ministers. Most correspondence from hon. Members continues to be received as letters and is replied to in the same format, although Ministers will continue to reply in e-mail form when they consider it appropriate to do so.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department is currently consulting on removing its check-off provision.
	The following organisations received subscriptions from staff salaries through the Department’s payroll provider in May 2014:
	Benenden Health
	Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund
	British Healthcare Association
	Charity for Civil Servants
	Charity Trust
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Sports Club
	FDA
	Forester Health
	Give As You Earn
	Health Sure Group
	Hospital Saturday Fund
	HSA Crown Simply Health
	HSA Individual Simply Health
	Leeds Hospital Fund
	Merseyside Health
	PCS
	Prospect
	Westfield Health

Pearson VUE

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what representations he has received regarding Pearson VUE's delivery of QTS numeracy and skills tests.

David Laws: There have been representations made by individuals and candidates regarding Pearson VUE’s delivery of the skills tests. These representations have been in relation to technical issues encountered by candidates at the time of sitting the test and requests for appeals where candidates feel there have been exceptional circumstances which should result in another attempt at the test in question being permitted. All representations of this nature are fully investigated by the Standards and Testing Agency.

Performance Appraisal

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff employed by his Department received each level of performance rating in their end of year performance assessment for 2013-14.

Elizabeth Truss: The information requested is set out in the following table.
	
		
			 Table 1: 2013-14 Performance management outturn figures for the Department for Education 
			 Percentage 
			 Performance rating Declared disability No declared disability Not declared 
			 Top/Exceeded 14 26 22 
			 Achieving/Achieved 69 66 68 
			 Low/Must Improve 17 8 10 
		
	
	The Department continues to take steps to ensure that its performance ratings are a fair reflection of individual performance. Over the last year, this has included independent members being present at end of year meetings where performance assessments are moderated and training for staff on how to avoid unconscious bias.

Pre-school Education: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many nursery places were available in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency in each year since 1995-96.

Elizabeth Truss: I have asked Ofsted to respond using the data they hold on registered nursery places. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s chief inspector will write to the hon. Lady, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries. Some providers such as schools with nursery provision for children aged three or over, are exempt from registration. The number of places therefore may not include the full range of early years provision available in the area.
	The Department for Education’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2011
	collects data on all registered child care places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. These figures are therefore more comprehensive than the Ofsted figures; however, data is only available at a national and regional level, and in this case only for the north-west.

Pre-school Education: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many nursery places were available in City of York constituency in 1995-96 and in each year since.

Elizabeth Truss: I have asked Ofsted to respond using the data they hold on registered nursery places. The Ofsted Director for the Early Years, and North-East, Yorkshire and the Humber, Nick Hudson, will write to the hon. Gentleman, and a copy of his response will be placed in the House Libraries. Some providers such as schools with nursery provision for children aged three or over are exempt from registration. The number of places therefore may not include the full range of early years provision available in the area.
	The Department for Education’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey1 collects data on all registered child care places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. These figures are therefore more comprehensive than the Ofsted figures; however data are only available at a national and regional level, and in this case only for the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside combined.
	1Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2011

Primary Education: Admissions

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate he has made of the number of children in England starting primary school in September 2014 who have received a place at their first choice school.

David Laws: Data on the proportion of children made an offer of their first choice school for England have recently been published as part of the Statistical First Release ‘Secondary and primary school applications and offers: 2014’. This is published online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-applications

Pupil Exclusions: Staffordshire

Aidan Burley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children were permanently excluded from (a) primary, (b) middle, (c) upper and (d) secondary schools in Staffordshire in each of the last three years.

Elizabeth Truss: Information on the number of permanent exclusions in each of the last three years is published in the “Permanent and fixed period exclusions from schools in England: 2011 to 2012 academic year” Statistical First Release1. Information for 2012/13 will be published on 31 July 2014.
	Table 1 in the publication shows the number of permanent exclusions in state-funded primary and secondary schools. This information is not available by middle and upper schools, as such schools are deemed either primary or secondary and are included in those counts.
	1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/permanent-and-fixed-period-exclusions-from-schools-in-england-2011-to-2012-academic-year

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children are involved in the Challenge the Gap scheme.

David Laws: To date, 99,755 children have taken part in the Challenge the Gap project.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many primary schools in (a) England and (b) Birmingham are taking part in the Challenge the Gap scheme.

David Laws: In its first two years, the Challenge the Gap programme has reached 150 schools, of which 84 are primary schools. 16 schools in Birmingham are involved in the programme, 11 of which are primary schools.

Pupils: Qualifications

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils who did not have a statement of special educational needs in each school achieved no qualifications by the end of key stage 4 in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Edward Timpson: The information requested has been placed in the House Library.

Pupils: Speech and Language Disorders

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils in (a) reception, (b) year 1 and (c) year 2 in each state-funded primary school had speech and language difficulties in the latest year for which figures are available.

Edward Timpson: The information requested has been placed in the House Library.

Schools: Uniforms

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance he gives to schools on steps they should take to inform students of their right to wear or not to wear religious clothing.

David Laws: It is for the governing body of each school to set their own policies on school uniform and other matters of appearance. The Department for Education’s guidance to schools on school uniform recommends that, once this policy is decided, the governing body should describe its uniform or appearance policy clearly and ensure that parents are informed.
	The uniform guidance reminds schools of their need to have full regard to their obligations under equalities law when setting and enforcing their school uniform policy. It also recommends that the governing body considers carefully any reasonable requests to vary their uniform policy to accommodate individual pupils’ beliefs.
	The school uniform guidance is available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-uniform

Schools: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what capital funding was allocated by his Department to schools in the City of York in 1995-96 and in each year since.

David Laws: As York only became a local authority in 1996-97 as a result of local government reorganisation, comparable funding data are available only from this date.
	The following table shows capital funding for the financial years that are available.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  City of York 
			  Capital allocations1 PFI credits2 
			 1996-97 0.8 — 
			 1997-98 1.3 — 
			 1998-99 1.8 — 
			 1999-2000 4.5 — 
			 2000-01 7.4 — 
			 2001-02 4.8 — 
			 2002-03 9.2 — 
			 2003-04 11.1 — 
			 2004-05 11.4 15.4 
			 2005-06 10.7 — 
			 2006-07 23 — 
			 2007-08 19.3 — 
			 2008-09 26.7 — 
			 2009-10 23.1 — 
			 2010-11 18.4 — 
			 2011-12 8.0 n/a 
			 2012-13 8.7 n/a 
			 2013-14 8.5 n/a 
			 2014-15 (provisional) 6.5 n/a 
			 ‘-’ Indicates that no funding was given in that year. 1 Capital allocations includes capital grant and supported borrowing allocations. 2 PFI credit allocations, where applicable are counted at financial close. PFI credits were not made after 2010-11 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000. 2. Capital allocations are made to York unitary authority for local authority maintained schools.

Schools: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding was given to schools in York unitary authority area in each year in 2008-09 and in each year since.

David Laws: Total revenue funding allocations to York local authority (LA) covering maintained schools and recoupment academies for financial years 2008 to 2015 are as follows:
	
		
			 Total revenue funding to schools £ million (cash) 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 York LA 98.3 101.6 107.4 107.6 109.5 114.2 118.2 
		
	
	These figures are in cash terms and include dedicated schools grant, other schools related grants in 2008-09 to 2010-11, pupil premium, Physical Education and Sport grant and universal infant free schools meals. Most of the additional grants were mainstreamed into the dedicated schools grant in 2011-12.
	The following table shows capital funding for the financial years 2008 to 2014. The data is in cash terms.
	
		
			 Total capital funding to schools £ million (cash) 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 York LA 26.7 23.1 18.4 8.0 8.7 8.5 
			 Notes: 1. Capital allocations includes capital grant and supported borrowing allocations. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000.

Schools: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much capital funding was given to schools in York unitary authority area in 2008-09 and in each year since.

David Laws: The following table shows capital funding for the financial years requested.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  City of York 
			  Capital allocations1 PFI credits2 
			 2008-09 26.7 — 
			 2009-10 23.1 — 
			 2010-11 18.4 — 
			 2011-12 8 n/a 
			 2012-13 8.7 n/a 
			 2013-14 8.5 n/a 
			 ‘-’ Indicates that no funding was given in that year. 1 Capital allocations includes capital grant and supported borrowing allocations. 2 PFI credit allocations, where applicable, are counted at financial close. PFI credits were not allocated after 2010-11 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest £100,000. 2. Capital allocations are made to York unitary authority for local authority maintained schools.

Teachers

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of newly qualified teachers were still teaching three years after completing their qualifications in each of the last five years.

David Laws: The information that the Department for Education holds will be published in late July as additional tables to the Statistical First Release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2013’, which is available here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013

Teachers: Labour Turnover

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the (a) turnover and (b) wastage rate was for (i) full-time and (ii) part-time teachers in each school in the most recent year for which figures are available.

David Laws: The information requested is not available for individual schools.

Truancy: Fines

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many parents and guardians of children within the state school system were fined as a result of unauthorised absence by their children in 2013.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education collects and publishes annual data on the number of penalty notices (fines) issued to parents, which includes any issued to guardians, for offences relating to section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996. The number of penalty notices issued in the academic year 2012/13 was 52,370. This information is published online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/parental-responsibility-measures-academic-year-2012-to-2013
	The Department does not collect data regarding fines issued by the courts on this matter.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to benefits from the pupil premium to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

David Laws: Universal credit will be fully rolled out in the next Parliament from 2017/18, and no pupil premium spending decisions for that period have yet been taken. For example, the per-pupil funding rates have not been decided beyond 2014/15. This means that it is not possible to estimate the potential cost of extending entitlement on the pupil premium budget.

Young People: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of people aged (a) 16, (b) 17 and (c) 18 years living in (i) York and (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber were in (A) full-time education and (B) full-time education, employment or training in 2008-09 and in each year since.

Matthew Hancock: Estimates of the proportion of 16 and 17-year-olds participating in education and work-based learning are published in the “Participation in education, training and employment, age 16 to 18” statistical first release (SFR). This provides estimates at local authority level for full-time education, and the wider measure of education and work-based learning, but information on employment is not available at local level. The local estimates are only available for academic age 16 and 17-year-olds.
	The SFR is published online here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-age-16-to-18

TRANSPORT

Airports: Employment

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of the number of jobs (a) directly and (b) indirectly provided by UK airports; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what estimate his Department has made of the economic and social benefits provided by UK airports; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Goodwill: The Government's assessment of the economic benefits of aviation is given in the Aviation Policy Framework, published in March 2013. The aviation sector's economic output to the UK economy in 2011 is put at around £18 billion and employing around 220,000 workers directly. It recognises that airports across the UK play an important role in securing connectivity for local populations and their contribution to local, regional and national economies.

Aviation: Fuels

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to incentivise the take-up of sustainable aviation fuels; what discussions his Department held with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on this issue; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Goodwill: At the European level sustainable aviation fuel is incentivised through generous accounting in the EU Aviation Emission Trading System, although volumes of sustainable fuel are currently very limited. Incentives in the road sector aim to increase the volume of sustainable fuels produced, in particular advanced biofuels, and reduce their cost.
	The Government recognises that advanced biofuels offer many benefits including increased greenhouse gas savings, but that there are risks and barriers to entry associated with the production of advanced biofuels. This is why we are making available £25 million of capital funding to leverage private sector capital to construct demonstration-scale advanced biofuel plants in the UK. Many advanced biofuel technologies can be used to produce either road transport fuel or aviation fuel. Therefore, developing these technologies in the road sector will build an industry that can be used to fuel low-carbon aviation in years to come.

Bristol Airport

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the economic and social contribution of Bristol Airport to (a) the Exchequer and (b) local communities; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Goodwill: The Government's Aviation Policy Framework, published in March 2013, recognised the contribution that airports across the UK-such as Bristol airport-make to local, regional and national economies, and the important role they play an in securing connectivity for local populations. Bristol airport handled over six million passengers during 2013, has direct air services to over one hundred destinations, and its on-site businesses provide valuable employment for approximately three thousand people.
	Last month the independent Airports Commission published a call for evidence on the domestic and international air connectivity provided by airports across the country. It also examines connectivity trends at these airports, how the business models of these airports are developing, and whether the connectivity provided by these airports can be enhanced.

Driving: Licensing

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many driving licences were withdrawn on the basis of alcohol abuse (a) following a road traffic accident and (b) at the request of a GP or medical practitioner in each of the last five years.

Stephen Hammond: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) does not hold information on the number of driving licences withdrawn on the basis of alcohol abuse following a road traffic accident.
	No driving licences have been withdrawn on the basis of alcohol abuse at the request of a general practitioner or a medical practitioner in the last five years.

Driving: Licensing

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of drivers who accumulate over 12 points on their licence are disqualified.

Stephen Hammond: On 3 July 2014, 93% of drivers who had accumulated 12 or more penalty points were disqualified.

Driving: Young People

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  when his Department plans to publish the Green Paper on young drivers safety;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to encourage the use of telematics to reduce car insurance premiums;
	(3)  pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 148W, to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East, on driving, when he plans to publish the findings from the focus groups with parents, young people and employers.

Robert Goodwill: I am committed to improving the safety of young drivers. However, I want to ensure that this is done in a manner that protects social and economic freedoms. I am striving to get this balance right and will make an announcement on this matter later this year.
	I believe that telematics technology has the potential to both increase road safety and reduce young driver insurance premiums. That is why my Department plans to undertake further research on this issue shortly. The findings should help to inform future Government policy in this area.
	I expect the findings of the recent focus group research with parents, young people and employers to be finalised shortly. Once finalised, it will be published within the standard 12-week period that applies to all Government social research.

Gas Masks

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to prevent the postage by retailers of Second World War gas masks containing asbestos.

Stephen Hammond: The Royal Mail is responsible for the acceptance or otherwise of items to be carried by post and they have set out what they will accept, or not, in their publically available guide "Prohibitions and restrictions in the domestic and international post" published in July 2013. These rules ensure that specified low risk items can be transported safely through the UK postal network.
	It clearly states that under certain conditions it is acceptable for samples of asbestos to be carried to UK destinations. Royal mail will not, however, accept asbestos under any circumstances for international carriage.
	I will not be taking any additional steps to prevent the postage by retailers of Second World War gas masks containing asbestos.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential of (a) Elon Musk's hyperloop trains and (b) Bombardier's double-deck trains as an alternative to High Speed 2 in increasing capacity on the railways.

Robert Goodwill: The Government believes that high speed rail offers the most suitable approach to promoting economic growth and providing the long-term transport capacity our country needs. It utilises proven technologies, while untested systems such as Hyperloop risk delay to delivery, which would mean a delay to much needed capacity increases between London and Birmingham, and cost overruns.
	We have considered a wide range of alternative options to a high speed railway including the use of alternative modes, a conventional speed line and upgrades to the existing rail network. Alternatives, such as the use of double deck trains on the west coast main line, do not release capacity for commuter and freight services, fail to offer a robust solution to the problem of poor performance and would significantly disrupt services as upgrade work is carried out to rebuild the tunnels, bridges and other railway infrastructure that would be needed to accommodate these trains.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he or any minister approved or commented on decisions to challenge the locus standi of any petitioner against the Hybrid Bill for Phase 1 of High Speed 2.

Robert Goodwill: The Secretary of State and departmental Ministers were advised of the petitioners whose locus standi was proposed to be challenged and approved those proposals.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish before the locus standi hearings the reasons for each challenge by HS2 Ltd.

Robert Goodwill: Each petitioner whose locus standi is being challenged has received a letter informing them of the reasons for the challenge, to allow them to prepare their case to be heard by the Select Committee. The promoter's case for challenging locus will be set out in detail at the locus hearings which are held in public with transcripts published. There are, therefore, no plans to publish the grounds for challenge separately.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will publish all the responses to the petition response documents to petitions on High Speed 2.

Robert Goodwill: We would not normally expect to publish correspondence from a petitioner in response to a petition response document.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  which (a) Ministers in his Department, (b) officials in his Department and (c) HS2 Ltd personnel have attended meetings with the China Development Bank;
	(2)  if he will publish all documents exchanged between the Government and the China Development Bank mentioning or concerning High Speed 2 or associated development or works.

Robert Goodwill: As far as the Department's records show, there have been no ministerial meetings with the China Development Bank while on multi-modal overseas visits to China. Nor do Ministers' diaries record any meetings with the China Development Bank.
	With respect to officials, we have focused on those most likely to have contact with an organisation such as the China Development Bank. It would appear from the records that no officials from the Department for Transport's International Co-operation and Better Regulation Division, High Speed Rail Group or International Rail have met with the China Development Bank.
	There have been no inward delegations from the China Development Bank to the Department for Transport.
	HS2 Ltd have had no meetings with China Development Bank.
	In the course of compiling this response, we have not identified any correspondence with the China Development Bank.

Highways Agency

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential cost to the Strategic Highways Company of carrying full public liability and professional indemnity insurance as proposed in the Infrastructure Bill [Lords].

Robert Goodwill: The Infrastructure Bill includes no measures that change existing legislation on public liability and professional indemnity insurance. The strategic highways company is expected to manage risk and insurance in line with HM Treasury's “Managing Public Money” and the detailed insurance arrangements for the new company are being considered.

Level Crossings

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of deaths at railway level crossings.

Stephen Hammond: Railway safety is a priority for this Government and the United Kingdom already has the best level crossing safety record in Europe.
	However, the industry must not be complacent and Network Rail has already done a great deal in this area including the closure of over 750 level crossings since 2009. Their response to the Transport Committee’s recent report into level crossing safety provided further detail and the Department is supporting this work through a £109 million ring-fenced fund to further reduce risk at level crossings by 2019.

Level Crossings

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to educate the public about dangers arising from railway level crossings.

Stephen Hammond: The best way to reduce risk at level crossings is to ensure they are used safely and that any instructions displayed are followed. The Department continues to support the railway industry to ensure that crossing users are aware of the dangers at level crossings, for example, by sponsoring research by RSSB (formerly the Rail Safety and Standards Board) in this area.
	Given the limited success of physical mitigation measures, such research is vital to assist Network Rail and the wider rail industry to understand, and mitigate, ‘human factor’ elements. The results have informed the development of Network Rail’s long-running “Don’t Run the Risk” and “See Track—Think Train” television and radio campaigns which are aimed at raising awareness of the dangers at level crossings and educating the public about the consequences of misuse.
	Network Rail has also created a “Rail Life” campaign aimed specifically at primary and secondary school pupils. This is providing educational material to schools adjacent to level crossings and produced video material to explain the risks to children.
	Part of the role of the level crossing managers which Network Rail has recruited is to build relationships with all level crossing users as well as the wider community and the Government expects further safety benefits to accrue from these activities.

London Midland

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will discuss with London Midland Trains steps to improve (a) punctuality, (b) reliability, (c) greater notification of cancellations and (d) provision of sufficient drivers for off-peak and weekend services.

Stephen Hammond: The Department monitors each train operator’s overall performance and there are clear actions set out in the franchise agreement should performance drop below what is expected. This regular monitoring includes monthly meetings with their senior management where performance figures are scrutinised and challenged. After the concerns in the autumn of 2012, London Midland implemented a number of remedial measures which included a recruitment programme for new drivers, and this recruitment is ongoing.
	The Office of Rail Regulation initiated a code of practice that was placed in the obligations in the licences of all train companies, station operators and Network Rail to ensure the whole rail network works together in compliance with an industry code of practice to deliver the best possible passenger information.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Fareham

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2014, Official Report, column 363W, on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Fareham, what discussions he has had in the last six months with external stakeholders on the staffing and training levels required for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham to be fully operational.

Stephen Hammond: Staffing levels for the new National Maritime Operations Centre remains as set in November 2011. Experienced coastguards have designed the training requirement, which is now being delivered in readiness for operational capability in September. Specific discussions about training in the past six months have involved: Blackpool and the Fylde College; the RNLI; Adair International (providers of Action Centred Leadership); and the Royal Yachting Association.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Fareham

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of staff currently employed at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham have (a) received the amount of training required and (b) attained the level of qualification required in order to carry out their duties when the centre takes on its full operational responsibilities in December 2015.

Stephen Hammond: There are currently 27 Coastguards employed at the National Maritime Operations Centre:
	23 are undergoing training to be ready in preparation for the start of operational duties in September 2014; and
	four already have the minimum qualifications required for their roles.
	The Maritime and Coastguard Agency anticipates at least a further 18 Coastguards to be in post at the NMOC who will have the training required to take on operational duties in September 2014.
	By December 2015 all 96 Operational Coastguards will have attained the level of qualification required in order to carry out their duties.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Fareham

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what levels of staffing the Maritime and Coastguard Agency expects to be in place at Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham in (a) September 2014, (b) November 2014, (c) January 2015 and (d) March 2015.

Stephen Hammond: The transition to the new Her Majesty’s Coastguard structure is progressive over 15 months, from September 2014 until December 2015, and is structured to incrementally deliver the right number of staff at the right point of the transition timetable. When fully operational there will be 96 Operational Coastguards in post at the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC).
	The Maritime and Coastguard Agency plans that there will be at least 45 Coastguards in post at the NMOC in September 2014 when it takes over the operational responsibilities for the areas previously covered by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres at Solent and Portland. Staffing levels at the NMOC will progress over the transition period in line with ongoing recruitment activity and the release of successful internal candidates from current operational duties.
	It should be noted that three Coastguard Operations Centres, each with a complement of 23 Coastguards, will migrate in the national network alongside the NMOC between October 2014 and March 2015. These are:
	Falmouth – October 2014
	Holyhead – December 2014
	Milford Haven – February 2015.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency: Fareham

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether levels of staffing and training at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham are in line with the targets in the original proposals in the Coastguard Reform programme.

Stephen Hammond: The levels of staffing and training at the National Maritime Operations Centre at Fareham are in line with proposals announced by the Shipping Minister in November 2011.

Motor Vehicles: Northern Ireland

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will ensure that Northern Ireland drivers can still have access to six Counties, Belfast, and Londonderry specific registration numbers.

Stephen Hammond: There will be no change when the delivery of Northern Ireland vehicle registration and licensing services is centralised at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea. Motorists in Northern Ireland will continue to be able to request specific registration numbers relating to the Six Counties, Belfast and Londonderry.

New Roads and Street Works Act 1991

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what procedures his Department has put in place to ensure that statutory undertakers carrying out emergency works give notice to street authorities as required under section 57 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Goodwill: Given that it is for highway authorities to enforce the legislation which governs the provision of notice for emergency works and the consequences of a failure to do so, the Department for Transport does not prescribe procedures.
	The New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 provides local authorities with the powers to take action against statutory under-takers who do not comply with the requirements of section 57. This is further supported by The Street Works (Registers, Notices, Directions and Designations) (England) Regulations 2007, The Street Works (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2007 and the 'Code of Practice for the Co-ordination of Street Works and Works for Road Purposes and Related Matters'.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport was formed in 2002 and consists of a central Department and five executive agencies as follows:
	Highways Agency (HA)
	Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)
	Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA)
	Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)
	Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)
	We have classified subscriptions as monthly payments that give an employee membership of an organisation; we have not included payments collected via payroll that are either charity donations or health care plans which are not classed as subscriptions.
	The central Department and its executive agencies makes provision for the collection of subscriptions via payroll to the following organisations:
	DFT(C)
	Civil Service Sports Council
	Civil Service Club
	The Sports and Recreation Association of the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Transport (SPARTA)
	Department of Environment Sports and Social
	Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS)
	Prospect Trade Union
	Transport and General Workers Union
	HA
	Civil Service Sports Council
	Civil Service Club
	Sports and Social Highways Agency
	Revenue and Customs Sports and Leisure Association
	Minerva Sports and Social Association
	PCS
	Prospect Trade Union
	UNISON
	MCA
	PCS
	Prospect Trade Union
	SPARTA
	Civil Service Sports Council
	DVSA
	Civil Service Sports Council
	PCS
	Prospect Trade Union
	SPARTA
	UNITE
	VCA
	Civil Service Sports Council
	PCS
	Prospect Trade Union
	DVLA
	Civil Service Sports Council
	SPARTA
	PCS

Policy

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what explicit monetary value his Department assigns to the value of preventing a fatality calculation during the process of policy appraisal and evaluation.

Robert Goodwill: The value of a prevented fatality used in transport analysis is £1,632,892 (in 2010 prices and at 2010 incomes). The value is given in Table A4.1.1 of the WebTAG (web-based transport analysis guidance) data book:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/webtag-tag-data-book-may-2014
	Guidance on using it, and related values, is given in TAG Unit A4.1 Social Impact Appraisal:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/webtag-tag-unit-a4-1-social-impact-appraisal

Railways: Franchises

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make it mandatory for all new franchise agreements to provide free wi-fi on all trains.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport is committed to working with industry partners, such as Network Rail, in developing greater mobile connectivity for passengers. Our policy of awarding franchises on the basis of quality as well as price has seen franchises awarded on TSGN and Essex Thameside which included improvements in this area proposed by the winning bidders. In order to enable market led innovation and flexibility for bidders for franchises, the way in which greater mobile connectivity is delivered is not currently specified.
	We are committed to improving access to mobile broadband for passengers. Monday's announcement that over £53 million due to be repaid to Government by Network Rail will instead be invested in new wi-fi equipment on trains is evidence of that commitment.

Railways: Franchises

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will require all new franchise agreements to provide a minimum standard of mobile connectivity on trains.

Stephen Hammond: A minimum standard of mobile connectivity is not currently specified when letting rail franchises but the Department for Transport is committed to working with industry partners, such as Network Rail, in developing mobile connectivity and has recently awarded franchises on TSGN and Essex Thameside which included improvements in this area as proposed by the winning bidders.

Railways: Standards

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to ensure that improvements in rail infrastructure in the South East are matched by improvements in the North West.

Stephen Hammond: The Government's £38 billion Rail Investment Strategy for the period 2014-2019 is set to benefit rail passengers throughout the country. Key projects that will transform rail services in the North West include the Northern Hub programme, the redevelopment of Manchester Victoria station, and electrification from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool, Preston, and Blackpool.

Rescue Services

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many coastguards have left the service since the Coastguard Reform programme began; and how many new entrants to the Coastguard service there have been in that period.

Stephen Hammond: Since the ministerial announcement of the new Her Majesty's Coastguard structure, on the 22 November 2011, 187 have left the organisation. There have been 128 new entrants to Her Majesty's Coastguard in the same period.

Rescue Services: Aberdeen

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether MRCC Aberdeen was staffed at below risk assessed levels on any shifts between 20 May and 22 May 2014.

Stephen Hammond: Aberdeen Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was fully staffed with five qualified officers during each of the day watches over the period 20 to 22 May 2014. On the night of 20 May, the watch was reduced to three qualified officers, and on the night of 21 May, four qualified officers. This had no impact on search and rescue operational capability for that period.
	Aberdeen MRCC could also have called on further experienced and capable support from five other MRCCs, should this support have been required.

Roads: Accidents

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many serious and fatal road accidents there were in York Unitary Authority in each year since 2008-09.

Robert Goodwill: The number of fatal and serious reported personal injury road accidents in York Unitary Authority for each of the calendar years 2008 to 2013 are given in the following table; by severity:
	
		
			 Number of reported personal injury road accidents in York Unitary Authority, by severity: 2008-13 
			  Fatal Serious 
			 2008 9 71 
			 2009 4 51 
		
	
	
		
			 2010 4 56 
			 2011 7 51 
			 2012 4 45 
			 2013 0 55

Roads: Lancaster

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to Lancaster City Council's Local Plan for Lancaster District 2011-2031: Strategic Options for Land Allocations, what assessment his Department has made of the potential increased need for roads infrastructure that would arise under Option 5 of that plan.

Robert Goodwill: The Highways Agency has not carried out any assessments of the possible impact on the strategic roads network of Lancaster city council's Local Plan for Lancaster District 2011-31: Strategic Options for Land Allocations, Option 5.
	The Local Plan is still in the consultation period which ends on 31 July 2014. It is the council's responsibility to assess the transport implications of their options and the Agency will work with them as part of this process.

Transport: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what transport grant was given to York Unitary Authority in each year since 2008-09.

Robert Goodwill: The Department for Transport provides grant funding to local highway authorities, including the City of York. Funding allocated to the City of York since 2008/09 for transport purposes that the Department has records of is listed below:
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Capital Revenue 
			 2008-09 5.941 1.837 
			 2009-10 6.219 0.738 
			 2010-11 4.551 1.345 
			 2011-12 3.899 0.421 
			 2012-13 6.886 0.647 
			 2013-14 16.997 0.932 
			 2014-15 6.001 0.685 
		
	
	This funding is for Highways Maintenance, Integrated Transport, Local Sustainable Transport and Major Projects.
	Since 2010 this Government has simplified funding arrangements to local authorities in order to provide them with greater flexibility in how the funding is spent to respond to local needs.

Travel: Concessions

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was spent on concessionary travel spending in York unitary authority in each year since 2008-09.

Stephen Hammond: The total amount spent by York city council on concessionary travel, including the statutory concession and any relevant discretionary enhancements, is detailed in the following table:
	
		
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 York city council spend on concessionary travel (£000) 5,013 5,307 4,902 4,633 4,826 
		
	
	Figures for 2013-14 are still being collated.
	Local authority formula grant has been the main vehicle for providing concessionary travel funding to local authorities since the current statutory concession’s introduction in 2008. Since this grant is unhypothecated it is not possible to provide a breakdown by authority.
	In 2008 the Department for Transport provided English authorities with a total of £31 million to assist in the reissuing of concessionary passes, £130,972 of which was allocated to York city council.
	Between April 2008 and April 2011 the Department made Special Grant payments to authorities, in addition to the formula grant they were already receiving, recognising the additional cost of the extension to pre-2008 concessionary travel arrangements. The following table indicates the amount of funding available to York in each of the three years during which special grant was paid.
	
		
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Special grant funding available to York city council: 1,112 1,138 1,170

Valuation of Life and Health Inter-departmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what measures of the value of life and health were included in the evidence submitted as part of his Department’s work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

Robert Goodwill: In response to my right hon. Friend’s previous question on this matter, the evidence submitted as part of this review was placed in the Libraries of the House on 25 June 2014.